Myanmar Army demands $ 85 for families to recover bodies of relatives killed in crackdown

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At least 82 people were killed in Bago on Friday, 90 kilometers northeast of Yangon, after the city was “attacked” by military security forces, the Association of Political Prisoners Assistance (AAPP) said.

More than 700 people have been killed since the military overthrew Myanmar’s elected government in a February 1 coup, according to AAPP. Since then, the junta’s security forces, made up of police, soldiers and elite counter-insurgency troops, have begun a systematic crackdown on unarmed and peaceful protesters, detaining about 3,000 people and forcing activists to hide.

The Myanmar army fired on anti-coup protesters in the town of Bago on Friday, using assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and hand grenades, AAPP said.

An eyewitness living in the town of Bago, who cannot be named for security reasons, told CNN on Sunday that many residents fled to nearby villages since Friday’s raid. The Internet was disrupted in the area on Friday, the eyewitness said, and security forces are looking for neighborhoods.

“I lived on the main road. Security forces come and park often,” the eyewitness told CNN, adding that the bodies piled up at the morgue following the shootings. “Because of the threat, we had to move into the house in the nearby gang,”

The military is now blaming 120,000 kyat families in Myanmar ($ 85) for recovering the bodies of relatives who died on Friday, according to a Facebook post from the Bago University Students’ Union.

The Burmese service of Radio Free Asia agreed with the reports of the Union of University Students in Bago. CNN did not independently verify the report and contacted the military for comment.

A police vehicle is parked on a road in the city of South Okkalapa to block the gathering of anti-coup protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, on Friday, April 9, 2021.

The Myanmar army claimed that its forces were assaulted by protesters in Bago on Friday, according to the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar.

“Security forces were attacked by groups of insurgents while removing roadblocks solidified by insurgents on the streets of Bago yesterday,” Global New Light in Myanmar reported, adding: “Attack security forces.”

The newspaper said a protester died during Friday’s incident. “Evidence of the confiscated grenades and ammunition indicates that small arms were used,” the report added.

The Myanmar Army detained a Red Cross volunteer doctor in Bago on April 2, CNN confirmed on Sunday. The volunteer, Nay Myo, who is also the president of the Red Cross in Bago, was not charged, but remains in detention, the Red Cross said.

Another volunteer doctor who provides free medical care on the spot, Wai Yan Myo Lwin, was detained on Sunday in Bago, his family confirmed to CNN.

Protesters march during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on April 11, 2021.

Reaction to violence

The US Embassy in Myanmar on Sunday called for an end to the violence.

“We mourn the senseless loss of human life in Bago and around the country where regime forces have used weapons of war against civilians,” the embassy said in a statement. posts on his official Twitter account.

“The regime has the capacity to resolve the crisis and must start by ending violence and attacks,” she added.

The Myanmar army denies responsibility for the deaths of children and says the election could be rejected

The NGO Human Rights Watch on Thursday issued a letter urging the European Union to “fully apply” sanctions on the military and “urgently adopt additional sanctions.”

“The people of Myanmar are once against the use of army bullets, but they continue to fight bravely, unceasingly,” the letter said. “EU condemnation and efforts to promote accountability and justice for serious, widespread and systematic abuses by the military junta are welcome and important, yet partial words and steps are not enough.”

But the army’s commander-in-chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, defended the coup over the weekend, saying the junta “did not take power, but took steps to strengthen the multiparty democracy system,” according to Global New Light in Myanmar.

The military’s spokesman, General Zaw Min Tun, previously told CNN that the generals only “protect” the country while investigating the “fraudulent” elections, and the bloodshed on the streets is the fault of the “outrageous” protesters.

CNN gatherers in Myanmar contributed to the reporting.

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