YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Security forces in central Myanmar opened fire on anti-coup protesters on Saturday, killing at least two people, according to local media. A human rights group said that the escalating violence since the February 1 military takeover has killed at least 550 civilians.
Of these, 46 were children, according to the Myanmar Political Prisoner Assistance Association. About 2,751 people were arrested or convicted, the group said.
Threats of lethal violence and arrests of protesters have failed to suppress daily demonstrations in Myanmar demanding military resignation and the re-establishment of the democratically elected government. The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
The Myanmar Now news service reported that government forces fired on protesters in the city of Monywa, killing at least two people. A video posted on social media showed a group of protesters carrying a young man with what appeared to be a serious head injury as the shots rang out. His condition was not immediately known.
At least seven people were injured in the shooting, two of whom suffered serious injuries and were taken into custody by soldiers, Myanmar Now said, citing a member of a local rescue team.
On Friday night, plainclothes armed police arrested five people after talking to a CNN reporter at a market in Yangon, the country’s largest city, local media reported quoting witnesses. The arrests occurred in three separate incidents.
Two women reportedly shouted for help while they were arrested, Myanmar Now reported. A policeman carrying a gun asked if “someone dared to help them,” a witness told the news service.
“They aimed their pistols at everyone – at passers-by and at the people in the store,” said a witness about two policemen, who forcibly took two other women into the market.
Meanwhile, Karen National Union, which represents the ethnic minority rebel group that has been fighting the government for decades, has condemned “bombings and uninterrupted air strikes” against villages and “unarmed civilians” in their homeland along the border with Thailand .
“The attacks caused the death of many people, including children and students, and the destruction of schools, homes and villages. These terrorist acts are clearly a flagrant violation of local and international law, ”the group said in a statement.
In Karen-controlled areas, more than a dozen civilians have been killed and more than 20,000 displaced since March 27, according to Free Burma Rangers, a relief agency operating in the region.
About 3,000 Karen have fled to Thailand, but many returned in unclear circumstances. Thai officials said they returned voluntarily, but aid groups say they are not safe and many are hiding in the jungle and in caves on the side of the Myanmar border.
More than a dozen minority groups have sought greater autonomy from the central government for decades, sometimes through armed struggle. Several of the main groups – including Kachin, Karen and the Rakhine Arakan Army – denounced the coup and said they would defend protesters in their territories.
After weeks of cutting off Internet access overnight, the Myanmar military closed all links on Friday except those using the fiber-optic cable, which was working at dramatically reduced speeds. Access to mobile and all wireless networks – the least expensive options used by most people in developing countries – remained blocked on Saturday.
Myanmar languished for five decades under strict military rule, which led to isolation and international sanctions. As the generals loosened control, culminating in Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to leadership in the 2015 elections, the international community responded by lifting most sanctions and investing in the country.