YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar security forces have dramatically stepped up their crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, killing at least 34 protesters on Wednesday in several cities, according to social media reports and compiled local news. by a data analyst.
This is the highest number of daily deaths since taking control on February 1, surpassing the 18 that the UN Human Rights Office said were killed on Sunday, and can galvanize the international community, which has so far responded irregularly to the violence. Wednesday’s videos also showed security forces firing slingshots at protesters, chasing them and even brutally beating an ambulance crew.
The toll can be even greater; the Democratic Voice of Burma, an independent television and online news service, recorded 38 deaths.
Protesters have regularly flooded city streets across the country since the military seized power and ousted the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their numbers remained high, even as security forces repeatedly fired tear gas, bullets from rubber and real shots to disperse the crowd and arresting mass demonstrators.
The intensification of the impasse is unfortunately familiar in a country with a long history of peaceful resistance to the military regime – and brutal repression. The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country, after five decades of military rule.
The death toll on Wednesday was compiled by a data analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety. He also collected information where he could about the victims’ names, ages, hometowns and where and how they were killed.
The Associated Press has not been able to independently confirm most of the reported deaths, but several have coincided with online posts. The data analyst, who is in Yangon, the country’s largest city, said he collected the information to honor those who were killed for his heroic resistance.
According to his list, the highest number of deaths occurred in Yangon, where the total was 18. In the central city of Monywa, which gathered large crowds, eight deaths were recorded. Three deaths were recorded in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, and two in Salin, a city in the Magwe region. Mawlamyine, in the south-east of the country, and Myingyan and Kalay, both in central Myanmar, each had a single death.
As part of the crackdown, security forces have also arrested hundreds of people, including journalists. On Saturday, at least eight journalists, including Thein Zaw of the Associated Press, were arrested. A video showed that he had moved out of the way while police attacked protesters on a street, but was apprehended by police, who handcuffed him and briefly held him with a choke before taking him away.
He was accused of violating a public security law who could see you in jail for up to three years.
The escalation of repression has led to an increase in diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis – but there appear to be few viable options. It is not yet clear whether the rising death toll on Wednesday could change the momentum.
The UN Security Council is due to hold a closed meeting on the situation on Friday, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to make the information public before the official announcement. The UK requested the meeting, they said.
Still, any kind of coordinated action at the United Nations will be difficult, as two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, would almost certainly veto it. Some countries have imposed or are considering imposing their own sanctions.
On Wednesday, the UN special envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that she receives about 2,000 messages a day from people inside Myanmar, many “who are really desperate to see an action by the international community “.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, held a teleconference meeting of foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
But there, too, action is unlikely. The 10-nation regional group has a tradition of not interfering in each other’s internal affairs. A statement by the president after the meeting only called for an end to the violence and negotiations on how to reach a peaceful settlement.
Ignoring this call, Myanmar security forces continued to attack peaceful protesters on Wednesday.
In addition to the deaths, there were reports of other violence. In Yangon, a widely publicized video taken from a security camera showed police officers in the city brutally beating members of an ambulance crew – apparently after they were arrested. The police can be seen kicking the three crew members and beating them with rifle butts.
Security forces are believed to have isolated medical workers from prison and ill-treatment because members of the medical profession launched the country’s civil disobedience movement to resist the junta.
In Mandalay, the riot police, supported by soldiers, dismantled a demonstration and chased about 1,000 teachers and students in a tear-gas street while gunfire was heard.
The AP video showed a squad of police firing slingshots at the demonstrators’ apparent direction as they dispersed.
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Associated Press editor Edith M. Lederer of UN Headquarters in New York contributed to this report.
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This story has been updated to correct that there was an account of one death in Myingyan, not two.