RANGOUN | At least 18 people were killed in Burma on Sunday in protests against the military coup, one of the heaviest daily tolls since the junta took power, which declared martial law in two townships in the Yangon metropolitan area in the evening.
In Hlaing Tharyar, on the outskirts of the economic capital Yangon, police and soldiers clashed with protesters armed with sticks and knives. Hidden behind makeshift barricades, they fled after security forces opened fire.
Protesters, using cut-out trash cans as shields, managed to recover injured people, but a doctor said not all could be rescued.
“I can confirm that 15 people died,” she told AFP, adding that she had treated around 50 wounded and that she expected the death toll to increase.
According to the monitoring group of the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP), which checks arrests and deaths since the coup, the toll is higher.
Throughout the day, gunshots were heard continuously by residents, who were hiding in their homes as smoke rose above the streets, while military trucks were seen driving through the streets of Hlaing Tharyar.
A police officer posted a video on TikTok hours before the clashes, indicating in a voiceover that they would bring heavy weapons.
“I will have no mercy on Hlaing Tharyar and they will seriously defend themselves too, because there are all kinds of characters there,” he said.
The video, which was verified by AFP factcheckers, was removed hours later.
Martial law
Following the clashes, state television announced that the ruling junta had declared martial law on Sunday evening in two towns in the Yangon metropolitan area, Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyitha.
The junta gives “the administrative and judicial power of martial law to the regional commander of Rangoon so that he can exercise it (in these communes […] in order to ensure security, maintain the rule of law and peace more effectively, ”said a news anchor.
Sunday evening, state media did not elaborate on the violence in Hlaing Tharyar, an industrial zone where textile companies are located, but indicated that five factories had been destroyed.
“The Chinese Embassy (…) quickly urged the local police to ensure the safety of Chinese companies and personnel with efficient management,” said the Chinese Embassy in Burma, indicating that Chinese factories had been burned, and condemning the actions of the “destroyers” in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
The evening news also confirmed a death in the Tamwe neighborhood of Yangon, indicating that hundreds of demonstrators had tried to burn down a police station, leading the authorities to open fire to disperse them.
Scenes of similar violence unfolded throughout the day in other parts of the country.
In Hpakant (north) in Kachin state, a town known for its jade mines, a man was shot and killed, according to a local doctor and media. In Mandalay, the country’s second city, a woman was shot in the head.
The UN envoy for Burma, Christine Schraner Burgener, “vigorously” denounced Sunday “the bloodbath” underway in this country.
“The international community, and in particular the regional actors, must unite in solidarity with the Burmese people and their democratic aspirations,” she added.
The diplomat said she had received “personally from contacts in Burma heartbreaking reports of murders, violence against protesters, and torture of prisoners over the weekend.”
“Darkest moment”
The violence comes as a vibrant call for resistance against this “unjust dictatorship” was launched Saturday evening by an opposition leader.
“The uprising must win,” said Mahn Win Khaing Than, in a video posted on the Facebook page of the CPRH, the Committee to Represent the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw – the Union Assembly, Burmese legislative body – -, a shadow Parliament made up of former elected deputies who went underground for the most part.
“This is the nation’s darkest moment and the light of dawn is near,” said Mr. Than, a former speaker of parliament who was appointed by the CRPH last week as acting vice president and as such heads the unity government, according to the committee.
Mahn Win Khaing Than is a senior official with the National League for Democracy (LND), the party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, whose civilian government was overthrown by the military on February 1.
In a statement released on Sunday, the CPRH stressed that the demonstrators had “the full right to defend themselves” under the country’s penal code against security forces who “harm and cause violence”.
Since the seizure of power by a military junta, daily demonstrations have continued to demand the return of democracy and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. They are harshly repressed by the police.
The repression has left more than 80 dead, estimates a local group which counts the victims.
The junta warned that the formation of the CRPH amounted to “high treason”, punishable by a maximum penalty of 22 years in prison.