14 PERSONS KILLED IN MYANMAR PROTESTS

Security forces killed at least 14 protesters in a poor, industrial suburb of Myanmar’s main city on Sunday and at least three people in other parts of the country, according to local media.

More than 80 people had been killed and over 2,100 arrested as of Saturday in widespread protests against the military coup on 1 February, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, the acting leader of Myanmar’s parallel civilian government, addressed the public via Facebook on Saturday, saying, “This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close.”

The Irrawaddy media group said three people were killed when police opened fire on protesters in Yangon on Sunday. Myanmar Now said 15 people were also injured.

At least two people were killed elsewhere in Myanmar, a day after Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party, said the civilian government would seek to give people the legal right to defend themselves.

In Yangon, hundreds of people demonstrated in different parts of the city after putting up barricades of barbed wire and sandbags to block security forces. In one area, people staged a sit-in protest under sheets of tarpaulin rigged up to protect them from the harsh midday sun. “We need justice,” they chanted.

At least 13 people were killed on Saturday, one of the bloodiest days since the coup, witnesses and domestic media said.

“They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people,” said Myat Thu, an activist in the city of Mandalay.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. Junta-run media MRTV’s evening news broadcast on Saturday labelled the protesters “criminals” but did not elaborate.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS