NAYPYIDAW (MYANMAR) – Myanmar security forces aimed fire against protests over military rule on Wednesday killing nine people, reported witnesses and media, a day after neighbouring countries urged for restraint and offered to help Myanmar come to a solution regarding the crisis.
The security forces took to live fire with little warning in several towns and cities, witnesses said.
“They marched towards us and fired tear gas, marched again and used stun grenades,” Si Thu Maung, a protest leader in the central town of Myingyan, told.
“Then they didn’t spray us with water cannon, no warning to disperse, they just fired their guns.”
One teenaged boy was killed in Myingyan, however, the heaviest toll was in another central town, Monywa, where five people, which included four men and one woman, were killed, said Ko Thit Sar, editor of the Monywa Gazette.
“We’ve confirmed with family members and doctors, five people have been killed,” he told.
“At least 30 people are wounded, some still unconscious.”
Two people had a fatal end in the country’s second-biggest city Mandalay, a witness and media reports said. A witness said one person was killed when police opened fire in the main city of Yangon.
A spokesman for the ruling military council did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
At least 30 people have been killed since the coup.
The Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, said on Twitter, referred to the student-led mass protests in Beijing in 1989. “The country is like the Tiananmen Square in most of its major cities.”
Media and residents said that protesters were also out in Chin State in the west, Kachin State in the north, Shan State in the northeast, the central region of Sagaing and the south.
“We’re aiming to show that no one in this country wants dictatorship,” Salai Lian, an activist in Chin State, told earlier.
Security forces also had about 300 protesters as they broke up protests in Yangon, the Myanmar Now news agency reported. One activist said several protest leaders were among those taken away.
Only four members, which included Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, called for the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees.
The ASEAN chair, Brunei, said in a statement, “We expressed ASEAN’s readiness to assist Myanmar in a positive, peaceful and constructive manner.”
Myanmar’s state media said the military-appointed foreign minister attended the ASEAN meeting that “exchanged views on regional and international issues”, but made no mention of the focus on Myanmar’s problems.
It said Wunna Maung Lwin “apprised the meeting of voting irregularities” in November’s election.
Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has said the intervention was to safeguard Myanmar’s democracy and has vowed to hold new elections but given no time frame.
ASEAN’s bid to find a solution from the crisis has received criticism from inside Myanmar, with concern it would validate the junta and not help the country.
“No more words, action,” activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi told in a message. She called for sanctions on businesses linked to the military.