(Reuters) – A nun knelt in front of the police in a northern Myanmar city and begged them to stop shooting at protesters who were agitating against last month’s coup.
In the end, however, it was unsuccessful.
The video showed Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng in a white robe and black robe kneeling on a street in the town of Myitkyina on Monday, speaking with two policemen who were also kneeling.
“I begged them not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly, as members of the family,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview.
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A nun knelt in front of the police in a northern Myanmar city and begged them to stop shooting at the demonstrators who were agitating against last month’s coup.
(MYITKYINA NEWS JOURNAL)
“I told them that they can kill me, I will not stand until they make a promise that they will not brutally crack down on protesters.”
Tawng, who runs a clinic in the city, said he received assurances from senior officials that they were just clearing the road.
Tawng and one of the policemen are seen touching their foreheads to the ground, but the shots started soon after.
“We heard loud shots and saw that a boy’s head had exploded and there was a river of blood on the street,” said Tawng.
At least two protesters were killed and several others injured, she and other witnesses said.
A military spokesman and Myitkyina police did not respond to requests for comment.
Tawng tried to bring some of the victims to the clinic before she was blinded by tear gas.
“The floor of our clinic has become a sea of blood,” she said. “We need to value life. It made me very sad.”
The nun also stepped in between protesters and police lines last month, pleading for peace, local media reported.
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More than 60 people were killed and more than 1,800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the February 1 coup, a defense group said.
Reuters team reports; Written by Raju Gopalakrishnan, edited by Ed Osmond
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