Myanmar security forces fire grenades at protesters, 80 people killed

Jakarta – Security forces Myanmar fired a grenade rifle at protesters in a town near Yangon on Friday. As a result, more than 80 people died, said the monitoring group Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The news portals AAPP and Myanmar Now said on Saturday 82 people had died during protests against the country’s February 1 military coup. The shooting started before dawn on Friday and continued into the afternoon, Myanmar Now said.

“This is like genocide,” the news outlet quoted a protest organizer named Ye Htut as saying. “They’re shooting every shadow.”

Many city dwellers have fled, according to accounts on social media. A spokesman for Myanmar’s military junta could not be reached on Saturday.

The AAPP, which records the daily number of protesters killed and arrested by security forces, previously said 618 people had been killed since the coup.

That figure was later debunked by the military, which said it staged the coup because of the November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party because of rigging. The election commission has rejected the statement.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told a press conference on Friday in the capital, Naypyitaw, that the military had recorded 248 civilian deaths and 16 police deaths, and that no automatic weapons were used by the security forces.

An alliance of ethnic forces in Myanmar opposing the junta’s crackdown attacked a police station in the east on Saturday and at least 10 policemen were killed, domestic media said.

The police station in Naungmon in Shan state was attacked in the morning by fighters from an alliance that includes the Arakan Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, media reported.

Shan News said at least 10 policemen were killed, while the Shwe Phee Myay news outlet put the death toll at 14.

Myanmar’s military ruler said on Friday that protests against his rule were easing because people wanted peace, and would hold elections in two years.

The ousted Myanmar lawmaker urged the United Nations Security Council on Friday to take action against the military.

“Our people are ready to pay whatever it costs to regain their rights and freedoms,” said Zin Mar Aung, who has been appointed acting foreign minister for a group of ousted lawmakers. He urged DPR members to apply direct and indirect pressure on the junta.

“Myanmar is on the brink of state failure, state collapse,” Richard Horsey, Myanmar’s senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, said at an informal UN meeting, the first public discussion on Myanmar by a council member.

(eva / eva)

– .