A child too was shot dead in Mandalay town, says UNICEF
Yangon/New York: The United Nations country team in Myanmar has expressed its profound concern over the events on Saturday in Mandalay in which two people were reportedly killed and dozens wounded when security forces used lethal force against demonstrators. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) said that one of the two people killed in Mandalay was a child.
While UNICEF spoke out against the use of force against demonstrators and called on security forces to prioritize the protection and safety of children and young people, the UN team on the ground here said the use of excessive force against demonstrators must stop and the fundamental right to peaceful assembly must be respected, along with other human rights such as the freedom of speech.
With protests on the roads of Myanmar turning bloody, and Internet seriously disturb in the country since the coup, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the Myanmar military to stop the repression immediately, as well as to release the prisoners, end the violence, respect human rights and the will of the people that was recently expressed in an election.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Counci on February 22, 2021, Guterres said that one could see in the country “the undermining of democracy, the use of brutal force, arbitrary arrests, repression in all its manifestations”. He added: It is all coming together in a perfect storm of upheaval.”
And in a tweet over the weekend, he called the use of lethal force, intimidation and harassment against all peaceful demonstrators “unacceptable”.
May Wong, a senior Indochina correspondent of Channel New Asia, who was formerly based in Myanmar and now in Bangkok, tweeted today that “Some #Myanmar protesters are now beginning to write their blood type & emergency contact numbers on their arms just in case they get injured/require help or worse killed at protest opposing”. May also posted a picture which she claimed was taken in Yangon. (See tweet).
Some #Myanmar protesters are now beginning to write their blood type & emergency contact numbers on their arms just in case they get injured/require help or worse killed at protest opposing #militarycoup. I was sent this picture which was taken in #Yangon #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/FxQpDozyuW
— May Wong (@MayWongCNA) February 22, 2021
Also read: Following complete internet shut down in Myanmar, many journalists seek to leave the country
The Secretary-General stressed that coups have no place in our modern world. His Special Envoy, Christine Schraner Burgener, also expressed her solidarity with the people of Myanmar. She stressed that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of Government, with the will of the people of Myanmar having been expressed by the elections in November.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, reports say at least two people were killed and dozens wounded when security forces opened fire when workers protested being forcibly brought to their jobs at a local shipyard in Mandalay town. The forces also used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and slingshots besides live ammunition on the protestors. According to Radio Free Asia, the protesting workers, who demanded release of detained civilian leaders including Saw Aung San Suu Kyi, had stopped work, thus paralyzing river transport on the country’s most important commercial waterway, Irrawaddy.
– global bihari bureau
