Police in Myanmar crack down on crowds defying protest ban
Source: AP
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police cracked down on demonstrators opposing Myanmar’s military coup, firing warning shots and shooting water cannons to disperse crowds that took to the streets again Tuesday in defiance of rules making protests illegal.
Water cannons were used in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city, where witnesses said at least two warning shots were fired to try to break up the crowd. Reports on social media said police arrested more than two dozen people there. Police also used water cannons in the capital, Natpyitaw, for a second day and fired shots into the air.
Police were reported to have also shot rubber bullets at the crowd in Naypyitaw, wounding several people. Photos on social media showed an alleged shooter — an officer with a short-barreled gun — and several injured people.
Unconfirmed social media reports circulated of shootings with live rounds and deaths among the protesters, with the potential of sparking violent retaliation against the authorities, an outcome proponents of the country’s civil disobedience movement have warned against. The AP was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. Police were cracking down on the demonstrators against Myanmar’s military takeover who took to the streets in defiance of new protest bans. (AP Photo)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-aung-san-suu-kyi-myanmar-arrests-yangon-62f96ec2e545d4bcbf86392c070d9a44