MANDALAY: At least 2 people were killed, and over 30 people were injured as security forces fired live rounds on anti-coup protestors in Mandalay on Saturday.
Since the unprecedented military coup on February 1, the junta regime had faced two straight weeks of anti-coup demonstrations.
Hundreds of police officers and soldiers gathering at a city shipyard near the Irrawaddy River on Saturday triggered fears among residents that authorities might attempt to arrest workers for participating in the anti-coup movement.
With protesters shouting at the police to leave and throwing rocks at them, they banged pots and pans as a signature act of defiance.
However, the police opened fire with live rounds, rubber bullets, and slingshot balls at the protesters, dispersing them.
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Furthermore, a gruesome video of the boy lying on a pool of blood, bleeding from his head with one bystander putting a hand on his chest to feel for a pulse is also being circulated on Facebook.
Hundreds of individuals were arrested in early February, many of them civil servants who had been boycotting work as part of a campaign of civil disobedience. Police also used tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets to combat the protesters in many cases. Isolated incidents of live rounds being fired were also reported.
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