More than 100 protesters killed in Myanmar as junta puts on show of force for Armed Forces Day

NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar's security forces shot and killed more than 100 protesters on Saturday (Mar 27), in the bloodiest day of protests since a military coup last month, according to news reports and witnesses.  

The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyidaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy.

State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot "in the head and back". Despite this, demonstrators against the Feb 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns.

The Myanmar Now news portal said 114 people were killed across the country by security forces. A count issued by an independent researcher in Yangon who has been compiling near-real time death tolls put the total at 107, spread over more than two dozen cities and towns.

Both numbers are higher than all estimates for the previous high on Mar 14, which ranged from 74 to 90.

READ: US embassy in Myanmar blasts junta for 'murdering unarmed civilians'

Figures collected by the researcher, who asked not to be named for his security, have generally tallied with the counts issued at the end of each day by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, which documents deaths and arrests and is widely seen as a definitive source.

A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in Mandalay. At least 24 people were killed in Yangon, Myanmar Now said.

"Today is a day of shame for the armed forces," Dr Sasa, a spokesman for CRPH, an anti-junta group set up by deposed lawmakers, told an online forum.

READ: Myanmar's armed ethnic factions will not stand by if more protesters killed, says one group

At least four people were killed when security forces opened fire at a crowd protesting outside a police station in Yangon's Dala suburb in the early hours of Saturday, Myanmar Now reported. At least 10 people were wounded, the news portal said.

Three people, including a young man who plays in a local under-21 football team, were shot and killed in a protest in the Insein district of the city, a neighbour told Reuters. 

A baby playing on the street in a northern Yangon township was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet when police opened fire at nearby protesters. She was rushed to the hospital by her parents.

Further north near the notorious Insein prison, a pre-dawn rally - which had protesters wearing bicycle helmets and shielded by sandbag barricades - devolved into chaos when soldiers started shooting.

At least one was killed - a 21-year-old police officer, Chit Lin Thu, who had joined the anti-coup movement.

"He was shot in the head and died at home," his father Joseph told AFP. "I am extremely sad for him, but at the same time, I am proud of my son".

Violence erupted all over the central Mandalay region as security forces opened fire at protesters, killing at least nine people in four different cities - one of them a doctor in Wundwin and a 14-year-old girl in Meiktila, according to rescue workers on the ground.

"Four men were brought to us dead," an emergency worker from Mandalay city, Myanmar's second largest, told AFP, as she frantically tried to treat dozens of injured.

A protester in Myingyan, who witnessed a man killed when he was shot in the neck, said the death toll will likely grow as security forces have continued shooting across his city.

"Today is like a revolution day for us."

In the northeastern Shan state, security forces opened fire on university students - killing a least three - while in the tourist city of Bagan, a march through ancient pagodas turned into mayhem when one protesting tour guide was shot dead.

Meanwhile, one of Myanmar's two dozen ethnic armed groups, the Karen National Union, said it had overrun an army post near the Thai border, killing 10 people - including a lieutenant colonel - and losing one of its own fighters.

The deaths on Saturday would take the number of civilians reported killed since the coup to more than 400, according to Reuters.

"This 76th Myanmar armed forces day will stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonour," the EU delegation to Myanmar said. "The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts."

A military spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment on the killings by security forces or the insurgent attack on its post.

The country has been in turmoil since the generals ousted and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, triggering a major uprising demanding a return to democracy.

Violent morning crackdowns by security forces thwarted some plans for fresh protests that had been called in some cities to coincide with the parade in the capital Naypyidaw.

As troops carried torches and flags while marching alongside army vehicles, junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing again defended the coup and pledged to yield power after new elections.

But he also issued another threat to the anti-coup movement that has gripped the country since he took charge, warning that acts of "terrorism which can be harmful to state tranquillity and security" were unacceptable.

READ: Myanmar junta warns protesters at risk of being shot in the head: State TV

READ: Firebomb attack at Aung San Suu Kyi's party headquarters in Myanmar

"The democracy we desire would be an undisciplined one if they pay no respect to and violate the law," he said.

Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II, usually accompanies a military parade attended by foreign officers and diplomats.

But the junta has struggled to achieve international recognition since taking control of Myanmar and said that only eight international delegations attended Saturday's event, including China and Russia.

Russia's deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin attended the parade, having met senior junta leaders a day earlier. 

"Russia is a true friend," Min Aung Hlaing said.

Fears have swirled that the day could become a flashpoint for more unrest.

Security forces cracked down on demonstrators in commercial hub Yangon before dawn, while police and troops opened fire on a rally by university students in the northeastern city of Lashio.

"The army and the police just came and shot them. They did not give any warning to protesters and they used real bullets," local journalist Mai Kaung Saing told AFP.

But protesters elsewhere returned to the streets, including in the second-largest city Mandalay, where crowds carried Aung San Suu Kyi's party flag and flashed the three-finger salute that has been adopted as a symbol of resistance to military rule.

"DO NOT DIE IN VAIN"

Security forces have increasingly cracked down with lethal force on demonstrations against the coup in recent weeks, using tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds to break up rallies.

A message broadcast on state television warned young people not to participate in what it called a "violent movement" against the military regime.

"Learn the lesson from those who have brutally died ... do not die for nothing," it said.

About 330 people have died in demonstrations against the coup - including a large number killed by direct headshots from security forces - and more than 3,000 others have been arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

The protest movement has also included widespread strikes by civil servants, which have brought many basic government functions to a halt.

This has infuriated authorities, who arrested people suspected of supporting the movement, often in night raids on homes.

READ: Myanmar activists call for Armed Forces Day protests

But the protest movement, coming on top of a COVID-19 pandemic that hit Myanmar hard, has also struck the country's economy.

The World Bank has warned the country faces a huge 10 per cent slump in GDP in 2021.

NOBEL PRIZE NOMINATION 

On Thursday the US and Britain - the nation's former colonial ruler - imposed sanctions on a conglomerate owned by the Myanmar military.

So far diplomatic pressure has had little impact and Washington and London hope that hitting the military's financial interests will pay dividends.

The armed forces dominate many key sectors of the Myanmar economy, including trading, natural resources, alcohol, cigarettes and consumer goods.

The civil disobedience movement had a boost on Friday when a group of Norwegian academics nominated it for the Nobel Peace Prize - won in 1991 by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military has defended its power grab, claiming voter fraud in the November election which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won by a landslide.