Security forces fire on protesting medical workers in Myanmar, leaving at least one dead – local media

Security forces for Myanmar’s military government have fired on protesting medical workers in the city of Mandalay, killing one and reportedly arresting six demonstrators. A further 14 individuals were detained in the city.

A strike held by medical workers in Mandalay was broken up by security forces shortly after it started on Thursday. Khit Thit Media says that shots were fired by troops in the neighborhood of the protest, killing at least one. Local media reports say that a man was killed when soldiers stormed the Sule Mosque compound. Radio Free Asia claimed two more were injured in the attack at the religious site. 

According to the BBC’s Burmese-language service, at least 20 people have been arrested, including six protesting medical students and a number of Mandalay residents. Locals told the BBC that military council forces were conducting house-to-house searches around the site of the protests. 

Videos have emerged online in which shots can be heard in and around the city. Police are seen patrolling the streets. 

Twitter users and local media have widely shared a video of a soldier appearing to steal a chicken, reportedly after the attack on the mosque.

Protesters told the BBC that the healthcare workers had been striking almost every day since the coup in February. Plans for a protest on Tuesday, the first day of the Burmese New Year festival, Thingyan, were disrupted by the crackdown. 

Myanmar has been gripped by unrest since February 1, when the army arrested democratically elected State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials over claims of election fraud. The military government has said it will return the country to democratically elected leaders after the election is held in two years.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!