The latest reports from Myanmar today are that close to 100 have been killed as the Myanmar security forces opened fire on peaceful pro-democracy protests across the country. The military had threatened to use violence the previous night ahead of another round of mass protests planned for today. According to an article in the Associated Press:

State television MRTV on Friday night showed an announcement urging young people — who have been at the forefront of the protests and prominent among the casualties — to learn a lesson from those killed during demonstrations about the danger of being shot in the head or back.

The warning was widely taken as a threat because a great number of the fatalities among protesters have come from being shot in the head, suggesting they have been targeted for death. The announcement suggested that some young people were taking part in protesting as if it was a game, and urged their parents and friends to talk them out of participating.

Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, condemned the latest violence, saying in a public statement:

“This is just the latest example of the military authorities’ determination to kill their way out of nationwide resistance to the coup. These abhorrent killings again show the generals’ brazen disregard for the inadequate pressure applied so far by the international community.

“This comes a day after the military announced that further protests would be met with shots to the head. The cost of international inaction is being counted in bodies, including children shot dead in their homes. Amid the horrifying death toll is a nation of over 50 million held hostage, subjected to arbitrary arrest and sweeping surveillance, living in fear of death and torture.

“The people of Myanmar continue to protest, all while they grieve more killings by the hour. The nations that participated in the military’s Armed Forces Day events today in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, particularly China and Russia, are the same states that have shielded the Tatmadaw from accountability time and time again, supplying them with the means to carry out mass slaughter.

“UN Security Council member states’ continued refusal to meaningfully act against this never-ending horror is contemptible.”

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