YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Filming of a brutal crackdown on protests against a coup in Myanmar has sparked outrage and calls for a stronger international response Thursday, a day after 38 people were killed. The videos showed security forces shooting a person directly at a distance and targeting and savagely beating protesters.
Despite the shocking violence of the previous day, protesters returned to the streets on Thursday to denounce the takeover of the army on February 1 – and were greeted again with tear gas.
The international response to the coup has so far been adequate, but a stream of videos distributed online showing security forces brutally targeting protesters and other civilians has led to calls for more action. The United States called the images horrific, the head of the UN for human rights said it was time to “end the military’s control over democracy in Myanmar,” and the country’s independent human rights expert called on the Security Council to watch the videos. Friday to discuss the crisis.
The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades had ruled under strict military control that led to isolation and international sanctions. As the generals have weakened their control in recent years, the international community has lifted most sanctions and invested in investments.
UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener described the “bloodiest day” since the takeover on Wednesday, when the army fired the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 50 civilians, most of them peaceful protesters, are confirmed to have been killed by police and soldiers since then, including those 38 who said they died on Wednesday.
“I saw some very disturbing videos today,” Schraner Burgener told UN reporters in New York via a video link in Switzerland. “One of them was the police beating a volunteer medical crew. They were not armed. Another video showed that a protester was taken by the police and shot very close, maybe only a meter away. He did not resist arrest and apparently died on the street. ”
She appeared to be referring to a video broadcast on social networks that begins with a group of security forces following a civilian, whom it seems they have just taken out of a building. A blow sounds and the person falls. After the person raises his head briefly, two of the troops pull him into the street.
In other films, about two dozen security forces, some with guns fired, are pursuing two people wearing construction helmets worn by many protesters on a street. When I catch up with people, I repeatedly beat them with sticks and kick them. One of the officers is filming the scene on his mobile phone.
In another video, several police officers kick and repeatedly hit a person with sticks, while the person bends to the ground with his hands over his head. The officers enter and leave the frame, receiving a few blows and then walking away carelessly.
While some countries have imposed or threatened to impose sanctions following the coup, others, including those bordering Myanmar, have been more hesitant in their response. The high volume of violent images distributed on Wednesday, along with the large number of deaths, raised the hope that the dynamic could change.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday urged all those with “information and influence” to hold military leaders accountable.
“This is the time to turn the tables to justice and end the military’s control over democracy in Myanmar,” she said.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was “dismayed” by the “horrific violence,” and the UN’s independent human rights expert in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that the systematic brutality of the military junta is horribly displayed again ”.
“I urge members of the UN Security Council to view photos / videos of the shocking violence unleashed on peaceful protesters before the meeting,” he said on Twitter.
The Security Council has scheduled closed-door consultations for Friday on calls to reverse the coup – including from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres – and stop growing repression.
But Justine Chambers, associate director of the Myanmar Research Center at the Australian National University, said that while the graphic images would undoubtedly lead to strong convictions – the action on Myanmar would be heavier.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think the brutality captured by the camera will change much,” she said. “I don’t think the domestic public around the world has much of a desire for stronger action, that is, for intervention, given the current state of the pandemic and the associated economic problems.”
Any coordinated action at the UN will be difficult, as two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, would certainly veto.
Even though the Council took action, UN envoy Schraner Burgener warned that there might not be much difference. She said she had warned the Myanmar army that the nations of the world and the Security Council “could take huge and powerful measures”.
“And the answer was, ‘We’re used to sanctions, and we’ve survived those sanctions in the past,'” she said. When he also warned that Myanmar would become isolated, Schraner Burgener said: “The answer was, ‘We have to learn to go with only a few friends.'”
The highest number of deaths on Wednesday was in Yangon, the country’s largest city, where about 18 people died. The video at a city hospital showed grieving relatives collecting the blood-soaked bodies of family members. Some relatives cried uncontrollably, while others stared in shock at the scene around them.
Protesters gathered again in Yangon on Thursday. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
Protests continued in Mandalay, where three people were reported killed on Wednesday. A line of five fighter jets flew over the city on Thursday morning, which appeared to be a show of strength.
Protesters in the city threw a three-fingered salute, a symbol of defiance, as they rode motorcycles to a funeral procession for Kyal Sin, also known as her Chinese Deng Jia Xi, a student who was shot when attended a demonstration the day before.
During the crackdown, security forces also arrested more than a thousand people, including journalists, according to the Independent Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners. On Saturday, at least eight journalists, including Thein Zaw of the Associated Press, were detained. He and several other members of the media have been accused of violating a public safety law that could see them imprisoned for up to three years.