Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
MYANMAR SECURITY FORCES opened fire on a crowd attending the funeral of student who was killed on the bloodiest day yet of a crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, local media reported.
The escalating violence — which took the lives of at least 114 people on Saturday including several children — has prompted a UN human rights expert to accuse the junta of committing “mass murder” and to criticise the international community for not doing enough to stop it.
The Security Council is likely to hold closed consultations on the escalating situation in Myanmar, UN diplomats said on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.
The council has condemned the violence and called for a restoration of democracy but has not yet considered possible sanctions against the military, which would require support or an abstention by Myanmar’s neighbour and friend China.
The mounting death tolls have not stopped the demonstrations against the 1 February takeover — or the violent response to them from the military and police.
Myanmar Now reported the junta’s troops yesterday shot at mourners at the funeral in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed on Saturday. He was reportedly a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Union, which has a long history of supporting pro-democracy movements in the country.
According to the report, several people attending the funeral were arrested. It did not say if anyone was hurt or killed. But at least nine people were killed elsewhere on as the crackdown continued, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been documenting deaths during demonstrations against the coup.
Some of the funerals held yesterday themselves became opportunities to demonstrate resistance to the junta.
At one in Bhamo in the northern state of Kachin, a large crowd chanted democracy slogans and raised the three-finger salute that has come to symbolise defiance of the takeover. Family and friends were paying their respects to Shwe Myint, a 36-year-old shot dead by security forces on Saturday.
The military had initially seized her body and refused to return it until her family signed a statement that her death was not caused by them, according to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast and online news service.
Advertisement
In Yangon, the country’s largest city, meanwhile, mourners flashed the three-finger salute as they wheeled the coffin of a 13-year-old boy. Sai Wai Yan was shot dead by security forces as he played outside his home.
The 1 February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule.
It has again made Myanmar the focus of international scrutiny as security forces have repeatedly fired into crowds of protesters. At least 459 people have been killed since the takeover, according to the AAPP.
The crackdown extends beyond the demonstrations. Humanitarian workers reported the military had carried out airstrikes on Sunday against guerrilla fighters in the eastern part of the country.
Henrietta Fore, head of the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said in Saturday’s bloodiest day since the coup “an 11-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, two 13-year-old boys, a 13-year-old girl, three 16-year-old boys and two 17-year-old boys, (were) all reportedly shot and killed”. She said a 12-month old baby girl was gravely injured after being struck in the eye with a rubber bullet.
“In less than two months, at least 35 children have allegedly been killed, countless others seriously injured and almost 1,000 children and young people reported arbitrarily detained by security forces across the country” she said, condemning the indiscriminate killings and demanding that those responsible be held accountable.
The junta has accused some of the demonstrators of perpetrating the violence because of their sporadic use of Molotov cocktails and has said its use of force has been justified to stop what it has called rioting.
While protesters have occasionally hurled firecrackers at troops and on Saturday carried bows and arrows, they remain vastly outgunned and have shown commitment to methods of nonviolent civil disobedience.
Saturday’s death toll far exceeded the previous single-day high that ranged from 74 to 90 on 14 March. The killings happened throughout the country as Myanmar’s military celebrated the annual Armed Forces Day holiday with a parade in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw.
“Today the junta of Myanmar has made Armed Forces Day a day of infamy with the massacre of men, women and very young children throughout country,” said Tom Andrews, the UN’s independent expert on human rights for Myanmar.
“Words of condemnation or concern are frankly ringing hollow to the people of Myanmar while the military junta commits mass murder against them. It is past time for robust, coordinated action.”
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
9 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Unfortunately Christmas starts in early November now. A massive build up which takes the joy out of it. Leave Christmas to December only. A wonderful time of year, for me anyway.
It starts whenever you want it to, whatever makes you happy. Tree up on Nov 1st? Go for it, why would anyone care what is essentially just another ornament in your house. My mam was always broke at xmas and always said she appreciated xmas stuff being on sale in November so she could pick up bits here and there for her and for the family.
Who cares when it starts. Some people get into the Christmas spirit very early, and good for them. There are others for whom Christmas never comes and is a non event. Maybe we should think of those rather than how soon we can get started on silly spending..
It’s a long time since Dec 8th has been a busy Christmas shopping day in the cities. It’s usually a week day, so not suitable for most people. Rural people now have better shopping options locally than before, internet shopping, no sales on the 8th unlike Black Friday. In fact you’re far more likely to see locals in the cities than out-of-towners today.
I remember seeing footfall figures for December for Dublin City Centre and Dec 8th wasn’t in the top 10 busiest days. Busiest days were the weekends before Christmas.
@Pat Murphy: That my be correct in the here and now, but Dec. 8th was the busiest shopping day in Dublin – i had a part time job waitressing when I was in school and always worked on the 8th because it was a day of holy obligation and every kid in the country was off school. They’d be dragged out of bed at silly o’clock by their mothers to get the train up to Dublin to get the Christmas clothes in. Yes the few days before Christmas were busy, but nothing like the 8th. We’d have a queue out the door for breakfast by 9am when people would start getting off the train. The crowds on Henry St meant you couldn’t take more than four steps in front of you in the space of a minute, the street was that jammers. Miss those days
@Ann Reddin: I don’t doubt anything you said for a minute, but the footfall figures I saw were from 2016, when the Dec 8th shopping tradition was much reduced.
Cancelled the channels years ago.Don’t listen to the radio in work anymore.I have a 96 hour spotify mix playing instead of hearing the same 20 songs all day,same 20 ads all day and the same news 10 times a day.
So I haven’t been bombarded with Christmas ads all day which makes you sick of it by the middle of November.
Recommended
As a selling and consumption spree Christmas starts sometime in November. I am certain that Christmas Day is 25 December and has connection to a significant religious event that happened in Bethlehem about 2,000 years ago.
I think the Diwali festival was confusing people. People who were ignorant to what was happening thought it was people starting Christmas lights early and joined in.
I used to put my decorations up the 2nd of December and I loved everything to do with the lights I used to put huge displays of village houses in my windows I’d have lights outside the house as well and I’d have 2 trees in my home as well they were very good times and I miss them a lot. I’ve not put any decorations up for a few years now due to chronic pain and disability and I miss having the big display in my home but I just can’t do it anymore and I’ve no one to help with it, instead I look out my window and see the neighbours homes lit up and it gives me a bit of joy to see other families enjoying the Christmas cheer
Just put tree up yesterday. Know some people have it up a month nearly. Christmas bout family not about buying stuff. Greedy time year . Better years ago people actually not just going mass for there annual visit. I go mass every week church empty but will struggle getting seat Christmas. Not old I just needed something to believe in . World is crazy
Water safety boss calls for new measures after teens' deaths in Buncrana
Eimer McAuley
2 hrs ago
873
New York
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was violent but there was no sex trafficking, court told
Updated
4 hrs ago
8.0k
Road Safety
CCTV from petrol station captured clear images of crash that killed Garda Kevin Flatley
Updated
13 hrs ago
111k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 187 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 126 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 165 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 129 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 91 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 92 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 44 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 41 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 150 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 69 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 88 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 95 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 40 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 56 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 29 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 107 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 111 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 79 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 60 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 100 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 83 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say