YANGON: Security forces killed at least 39 people, 22 of them in a suburb of Yangon, the country’s main city, reports out of Myanmar say, in what would be the bloodiest day of protests against the junta that seized power in a February 1 coup, VOA has said.
According to the Reuters news agency, quoting the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, security forces shot protesters in Yangon’s Hlaingthaya suburb, which is home to Chinese-owned factories. China is seen and supportive of the Myanmar junta.
Authorities have imposed martial law on Hlaingthaya.
Army-run Myawadday television said security forces acted after four garment factories and a fertilizer plant were set ablaze and about 2,000 people had stopped fire engines from reaching them, Reuters said.
Plumes of black smoke rose over the area, with some reports saying two of the factories were burned.
A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.
Sixteen more protesters were killed in other cities and townships, the AAPP said, as well as one policeman. The previous deadliest day was March 3, when 38 deaths were reported across Myanmar.
Protests are entering their seventh week after the military detained de facto leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi and took power.
Since then, security forces have killed 126 people, the AAPP said, and detained more than 2,150 as of Saturday, with more than 300 released so far.
Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N. special envoy of the secretary-general on Myanmar, Sunday strongly condemned the continuing bloodshed.
“The international community, including regional actors, must come together in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations,” she said in a statement.
In Insein township recently, protesters laid candles and sang songs to honor those killed. They also chanted to call for the release of Suu Kyi and arrested leaders from her National League for Democracy party.
(VOA)
Comment