Five dead after Myanmar security forces ram car into Yangon protest
- The “flash mob” protest in Yangon was rammed by the car minutes after it started, photos and videos show it crashed through protesters and bodies lying in the road
- Military said that protesters who have been killed instigated the violence; opposition’s shadow government said it was ‘heartbroken’
Five people were killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar security forces rammed a car into an anti-coup protest on Sunday morning in Yangon, local news portal Myanmar Now reported.
Witnesses at the scene said dozens had been injured. Photos and videos on social media show a vehicle that crashed through the protesters and bodies lying in the road.
Another protest was held in Yangon in the afternoon despite the morning’s violence.
Anti-military protests are continuing despite the killing of more than 1,300 people since the February 1 coup. The scattered protests are often small groups voicing opposition to the overthrow of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of military rule.
The opposition’s shadow government said it was heartbroken to see peaceful protesters crashed into and shot to death.
“We will strongly respond to the terrorist military who brutally, inhumanly killed the unarmed peaceful protesters,” the National Unity Government’s defence ministry said in a statement on social media after Sunday’s attack.