Myanmar Troops Use Car To Ram Into Anti-Coup Protesters Killing Five
Five people have been killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar
security forces in a car rammed into an anti-coup protest on Sunday morning,
December 5 in Yangon. Local news portal Myanmar Now reported.
According to eyewitnesses
who spoke with Reuters, dozens were injured. Photos and videos of the incident
have gone viral on social media as they show a vehicle crashing through protesters
and bodies lying on the road.
Since the February 1
coup, despite the killing of more than
1,300 people, the anti-coup protest has refused to stop. The scattered protest is often small groups
voicing opposition to the overthrow of an elected government led by Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of military rule.
The opposition shadow government said it was
heartbroken to see peaceful protestres being shot and crushed to death.
“We will strongly respond to the terrorist military
who brutally, inhumanly killed the unarmed peaceful protesters,” the National
Unity Government’s defense ministry said in a statement on social media after
Sunday’s attack.
In the incident, a “flash mob” protest in Yangon, Myanmar’s
largest city, was rammed minutes after it started, witnesses said.
“I got hit and fell in front of a truck. A soldier beat me
with his rifle but I defended and pushed him back. Then he immediately shot at
me as I ran away in a zig-zag pattern. Fortunately, I escaped,” a protester who
asked not to be identified for security reasons told Reuters by phone.
According to two
witnesses, a car occupied by soldiers rammed into the crowd of protesters from the
back. They also followed the scattered protesters arresting and beating them.
Some protesters were left seriously injured with head wounds and left unconscious
A car occupied by soldiers hit the crowd from the
back, two witnesses said, and followed the scattered protesters arresting and
beating them. Some were seriously injured with head wounds and left
unconscious, according to the witnesses.
According to the military, the protesters who
were killed instigated the violence. The Military also said that it staged the
coup because the elections held in November and won by the Aung San Suu Kyi party
were rigged. The electoral commission has dismissed this claim.
Suu Kyi has faced numerous charges against her
including incitement and violations of COVID-19 protocols. She rejected all the
charges to date.
