Five killed in Myanmar protests as junta targets online critics to silence dissent
- An activist group said the security forces had killed 550 people, 46 of them children, since the February 1 coup
- Actress Paing Phyoe Thu, who is among the 18 celebrities wanted over online posts, said she would not be cowed
Despite the killing of more than 550 people by the security forces since the February 1 coup, protesters are coming out every day, often in smaller groups in smaller towns, to voice opposition to the reimposition of military rule.
Security forces in the central town of Monywa fired on a crowd killing thee people, the Myanmar Now news service said, while one man was shot and killed in another central town, Bago, and one in Thaton to the south, the Bago Weekly Journal online news portal reported.
“They started firing non-stop with both stun grenade and live rounds,” the protester in Monywa, who asked not to be named, said. “People backed off and quickly put up … barriers, but a bullet hit a person in front of me in the head. He died on the spot.”
Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.