Security forces in Myanmar opened fire on protesters in the city of Mandalay on Saturday, killing two people and wounding dozens, according to witnesses.
The shootings occurred while authorities tried to force workers to return to their jobs at a local shipyard. They were among hundreds of thousands of workers in Myanmar who quit their jobs to protest the military coup on February 1 and the overthrow of elected civilian leaders.
More than 1,000 protesters gathered at the shipyard to block the police, leading to a tense standoff that lasted much of Saturday afternoon. Authorities used water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas, slingshots and, finally, live ammunition to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.
At least 40 people were injured, according to volunteer doctors at the scene.
The shooting occurred a day after the death of another protester, a 20-year-old woman who police shot in the head at a demonstration in the capital, Naypyidaw, on February 9. The woman, who was on life support devices before succumbing to her injury, is believed to have been the first person killed in protests against the coup.
A volunteer at a local medical charity, Ko Kyaw Lin, said he helped rescue injured protesters in Mandalay, but was unable to get close enough to some of them because security forces were shooting at people in the crowd.
“When we caught patients on the street, they were shot by a sniper,” he said. “They shot everyone, no matter who they were.”
A video taken at the scene shows a man lying in a pool of blood, apparently killed by a gunshot to the head.
The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, who ruled the country for much of the past 60 years, carried out a coup before dawn on February 1, expelling elected leaders and putting the head of the civilian government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in prison at home.
The military also detained many leaders of their party, the National League for Democracy, including newly elected heads of state and members of parliament who were about to take office. More than 500 political figures and critics of the military are now being held, many without charge.
The coup immediately sparked protests across the country and spurred a growing movement of civil disobedience with widespread labor strikes. Among the main targets of the work stoppages are the main entities that help the military to collect revenues, including tax offices, the government’s electricity ministry and private banks.
Saturday was the bloodiest day of protests so far. The clash started when the police tried to force several workers to sail on a ship from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, about 200 miles upstream, Irrawaddy, to the city of Bhamo.
The men refused and a crowd of supporters gathered in the neighborhood of dirt roads and food stalls near the small Yatanarpon shipyard. Men rolled barrels down the street to build a barricade to contain the police.
Videos of the scene showed the police chasing protesters, beating some with their batons and arresting those who could be caught. At the sound of gunfire, some of the men bent down and took cover.
Some policemen used slingshots to throw rocks and other projectiles at the protesters. They also scattered sets of pointed screws across the street to cut off protesters’ feet wearing sandals as they ran.
As the afternoon progressed, the police became more aggressive and started shooting at the crowd. A video showed a group of police officers moving towards the demonstrators and firing their weapons as they walked. It was not clear whether they were firing rubber bullets or live ammunition.
Most, if not all, of the wounded were shot. Volunteer doctors took many of them to a nearby monastery for treatment, but some of the wounded were arrested.
Ko Min Kyaw, 38, a docker at the shipyard, joined the demonstration and was among the injured.
“We were protesting the military coup, peacefully,” he said. “The police started shooting with slingshots and then fired at us.”
Mr Min Kyaw said he ran, but was shot in the thigh, causing an injury that needed six stitches. Even after the doctors took him to the monastery, he could still hear shots. But being hurt will not stop you from protesting against the military, he said.
“Now, we people have to protect ourselves because the police and the soldiers who are supposed to protect us are attacking us aggressively,” he said. “We will fight against the regime until they are eradicated from our country. We will never give up. “
In Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, thousands of protesters have made numerous peaceful protests against the coup in several places, a tactic that can reduce the risk of a violent police response.
Authorities had barricaded the area around the Yangon Sule Pagoda, the site of major demonstrations earlier this month, so protesters gathered in other parts of the city. Some staged marches. Others used creative methods to block streets.
To prevent the police from releasing them from the intersections, some protesters pretended to pass out or pretend they needed to tie their shoes. Others dropped bags of onions. Then they ran to pick up the onions, placing them in punctured bags so that they fell on the street again.
The Protestant student who died in Naypyidaw on Friday, Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing, became a martyr to the protest movement, attracting national and international attention. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday.
She turned 20 last week while lying in the hospital in a vegetative state, kept alive only by a fan.
A video that captured the moment of her shooting shows her standing near a bus stop shelter – away from the police line – where she and other protesters took refuge. When she turned to leave, she was shot in the side of the head and fell to the floor.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said the Biden administration was saddened by the report of his death and offered condolences to his family.
“We condemn any violence against the people of Myanmar,” he said, using the old name for Myanmar, “and reiterate our calls on the Burmese military to refrain from violence against peaceful demonstrators.”
Ms. Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing went to the protest with her sister, Mya Thadoe Nwe, who said they hid at the bus stop when the police started using a water cannon. Her sister posed no threat to the police and was protesting peacefully, she said.
Despite the death of her sister, Ms. Mya Thadoe Nwe has no intention of giving up protesting and hopes that her sister has not died in vain.
“We will continue to fight until we win,” she said. “We need to keep fighting until we overthrow the regime.”