generalspeaking: In Myanmar Protesting the Coup is a Criminal Offence and a Death Sentence

Thursday, March 11, 2021

In Myanmar Protesting the Coup is a Criminal Offence and a Death Sentence

"I begged them not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly like family members."
"I told them that they can kill me, I am not standing up until they give their promise that they will not brutally crack down on protesters."
"We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid's head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street."
"Our clinic floor became a sea of blood. We need to value life. It made me feel so sad."
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng, northern Myanmar

Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng said she begged the authorities 'not to shoot and torture the children.' (AFP)

Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng operates a clinic in her town in northern Myanmar. She had received assurances from senior police officers who had entered the town of Myitkyina on Monday. They were there solely for the purpose of clearing the road of protesters. Their intention was to quietly do so. They had no orders to commit violence on the townspeople. She could relax about their presence. They would fulfill the purpose of their assignment and leave quietly.

In her white robe and black habit she knelt on a town street speaking the while to two policemen who were kneeling as well, in respect of her Buddhist status as a respected religious figure. A video showed their interaction. She pleaded with the men to stop shooting protesters who were agitating against the military junta's coup a month ago, arresting and detaining the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy.

The nun and one of the policemen are seen in the widely circulated video, touching their foreheads to the ground, an act of piety, a prayer for better times to come. Imploring the police to respect the human rights of the people to gather and to protest and to protect them from violence no doubt moved some of those present, but they followed orders, and soon afterward the gunfire began.

Two of the protesters were killed, others wounded. Sister Tawng attempted to carry some victims to the clinic, and then she was blinded by tear gas. Last month she had placed herself between protesters and police, pleading for peace. All together so far, more than sixty people have died, over 1,800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the February 1 coup.

Another official from deposed Myanmar leader Suu Kyi's party has died in custody after his arrest early on Tuesday, becoming the second figure of the National League for Democracy to be arrested and to die while in detention in the past two days. Arrested in Yangon, the NLDs Zaw Myat Linn died in custody..."He's been participating continuously in the protests", explained one of his colleages Ba Myo Thein.