Police in Myanmar on Friday opened fire on protesters against last month’s military coup, killing one man, as international condemnation rained down on the junta and the UN special envoy on Myanmar urged the Security Council to act. Christine Burgener called on the council for “unified support, action”, asking “how much more can we allow the Myanmar military to get away with?”, following the deaths of dozens of civilian protesters this week. She said the situation in Myanmar was moving toward “an acute humanitarian crisis”.
Activists demanding the restoration of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi held more demonstrations in several towns and cities, with thousands marching peacefully through the second city of Mandalay. “The stone age is over, we’re not scared because you threaten us,” the crowd chanted. Police opened fire and one man was killed, witnesses and a doctor told Reuters by telephone. An official from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was also stabbed to death along with his 17-year-old nephew in an apparent mob attack in the central Magwe region, local media reported. Myanmar Now cited the son of the official, who survived the attack, as saying 25 supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party set upon them with knives. The party did not respond to a request for comment. In Yangon, police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesters who had been joined by about 100 doctors, witnesses said.