4 yıl önce

Myanmar families hold funerals for loved ones killed at anti-coup protests

Dozens of families hold funerals for their dead as demonstrations against military junta are met with fresh violence, with at least one protester shot dead on Tuesday.

Reuters

People attend the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein, a 19-year-old medical student who was shot and killed during anti-coup protesters in Yangon, Myanmar on March 16, 2021.

The families of dozens of people killed in demonstrations against military rule in Myanmar have held funerals for their loved ones as more protesters defied the security forces and at least one man was shot dead.

Security forces shot dead at least 20 people on Monday after 74 were killed a day earlier, including many in a suburb of Yangon where Chinese-financed factories were torched, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

On Tuesday, a crematorium in Yangon reported 31 funerals, a mourner at one of the ceremonies said.

Hundreds of young mourners spilled out on to the street at the funeral of medical student Khant Nyar Hein who was killed in Yangon on Sunday, the bloodiest day of the protests.

"Let them kill me right now, let them kill me instead of my son because I can't take it any more," the student's mother was seen saying in a video clip posted on Facebook.

Mourners chanted: "Our revolution must prevail."

Some families told media the security forces had seized the bodies of loved ones but they would still hold a funeral.

The political and economic crisis over the February 1 ouster of the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi could soon mean hunger for the poor who are facing rising food and fuel prices across the country, the UN food agency warned.

Death toll nearing 200

At least 184 people have been killed by the security forces in the weeks of protests, the AAPP said, with the toll rising on Tuesday as one protester was shot dead in the central town of Kawlin, a resident there said.

People held up pictures of Suu Kyi and called for an end to the repression during a small protest in the southern town of Dawei on Tuesday, the Dawei Watch media outlet reported.

There was no report of violence.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by the escalating violence at the hands of the military and called on the international community to help end the repression, his spokesman said.

A junta spokesman did not answer telephone calls to seek comment and Reuters could not independently confirm all the casualties.

Rising food prices

State broadcaster MRTV said martial law had been imposed in parts of Yangon and military commanders would take over administration of districts and courts.

The army said it took power after its accusations of fraud in a November 8 election won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) were rejected by the electoral commission. It has promised to hold a new election but has not set a date.

The military ruled the former British colony for decades after a 1962 coup and cracked down hard on uprisings before beginning a tentative transition to democracy a decade ago.

That has been derailed and instead the protests and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes are paralysing large parts of the economy and could undermine the ability of poor families to feed themselves, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned.

The WFP said the price of rice was up as much as 35 percent in parts of the north and prices of cooking oil and pulses were also higher, while the cost of fuel had risen by 15 percent since February 1.

"These rising food and fuel prices are compounded by the near paralysis of the banking sector, slowdowns in remittances, and widespread limits on cash availability," the WFP said.

Open Society Myanmar official detained

Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup and faces charges such as illegally importing walkie-talkie radios and infringing coronavirus protocols.

Last week, the junta accused her of accepting illegal payments but she has yet to be charged with that.

Western countries have called for her release and condemned the violence while Asian neighbours have offered to help resolve the crisis, but Myanmar has a long record of rejecting outside intervention.

Authorities have detained an official from Open Society Myanmar, a group set up with the help of the foundation of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, and are looking for 11 other employees on suspicion they passed funds to opponents of the coup, a state-run newspaper said.

The newspaper published a picture of Suu Kyi meeting Soros in 2016 in New York but it did not directly link her or the Soros-founded Open Society Foundations to any transfer of funds.

SOURCE: Reuters