(Reuters) – Myanmar security forces opened fire on pro-democracy protests on Saturday and killed at least five people, a protester and the media said as the military stepped up its offer to quell dissent. with arrest warrants for another 20 high-profile critics.
Despite the killings of more than 550 people by security forces since the February 1 coup, protesters go out every day, often in small groups of small towns, to express opposition to the overthrow. of an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of military rule.
Security forces in the central city of Monywa, which has been experiencing daily protests for weeks, fired on a crowd that killed at least four people and injured several people, two media organizations reported.
“They started firing non-stop with stun grenades and live wheels,” the Monywa protester, who declined to be identified, told Reuters via a messaging app.
“People backed away and quickly put up … barriers, but a bullet hit a person in front of me, in the head. He died in situ. “
A man was shot dead in the southern city of Thaton, according to the online news portal Bago Weekly Journal and residents reported. Police also opened fire in the central town of Bago, injuring a man.
Protests were also held in Myanmar’s second city, Mandalay, and the northern city of Hpakant, media reported.
Police and a board spokesman did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
The military has said the deaths caused violence. He says he staged the coup because the November elections won by Suu Kyi’s party were broken. The election commission has dismissed the claim.
The activist group of the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners, in a statement earlier Saturday, said security forces had killed 550 people, 46 of them children, since the coup.
“People continue to protest every day because we firmly believe that this is a struggle between good and evil,” protest leader Tayzar San said in an audio message to Reuters.
State media announced that the authorities had issued orders for 20 other celebrities, including influential social media, singers and models, according to a law against inciting dissent in the armed forces, taking the number of warrants issued by to the defenders of high-profile democracy during the last day at 38.
The indictment could last three years in prison.
MUTE VOICES?
One of the wanted people, actress Paing Phyoe Thu, who attended rallies in the main city of Yangon in the weeks following the coup, said she would not be harassed.
“Whether an order has been issued or not, as long as he is alive, I will oppose the military dictatorship that intimidates and kills people. The revolution must prevail,” he said on Facebook. His whereabouts were not immediately known.
Military teams were also looking for leaders of the protest and several “unscrupulous” people with homemade weapons had been arrested, state media reported.
The military is also campaigning to control the flow of information, ordering Internet providers to cut off wireless broadband starting Friday, depriving most customers of access, even though they were still posting and sharing some messages and images.
The United States and other Western countries have denounced the coup and called for the release of Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her campaign against the military government. She has been charged with violating an official act of secrecy punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The United States also condemned the closure of the Internet.
“Hopefully this will not silence people’s voices,” State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said in a briefing.
The coup has revived old wars with ethnic minority forces seeking autonomy in the north and east.
Myanmar’s oldest insurgent group, the Karen National Union (KNU), has seen the first military airstrikes against its forces in more than 20 years, after announcing its support for the pro-democracy movement.
The KNU, which signed the ceasefire with the government in 2012, said more than 12,000 villagers had fled their homes due to airstrikes. He demanded an international embargo on arms sales to the military.
The media have reported that about 20 people have died in airstrikes in KNU territory in recent days, including nearly a dozen in a gold mine run by the group.
Fighting has also erupted in the north between the army and Kachin ethnic insurgents. The turbulence has sent several thousand refugees fleeing to Thailand and India.
Reuters staff reports; Written by Robert Birsel; Edited by Edwina Gibbs, William Mallard and Ros Russell