Early on Wednesday morning, the protests building in North Okkalapa, in Yangon, Myanmar, seemed peaceful. “I saw around three or four police officers along the road, but it was calm,” said Khin, who like all demonstrators the Guardian spoke to asked not to give her real name. Onlookers cheered as the crowds passed.
About 1,000 people, she estimated, had joined the march. Many had turned out in the hope that they would put pressure on police resources, and in forcing them to spread more thinly would protect demonstrators elsewhere in the city. After weeks of defiant mass protests opposing the military coup, the security forces were using increasing violence, including live ammunition, to break up rallies.
By evening, it was clear that the police and military response that day was the most deadly since the army seized power. In total, 38 people were killed by security forces, according to the UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener.
The violence has prompted international outrage. UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said the military “must stop murdering and jailing protesters” and the US state department said it was “appalled”. The UN security council is due to meet on Friday to discuss the crisis, though it is unlikely that China and Russia will agree to coordinated action.
The response in North Okkalapa by security forces escalated around mid-morning, said Khin, as protesters arrived at a main roundabout. Police began firing teargas and detaining protesters. Soldiers seemed to have arrived around the same time, she said.
Khin fled to safety in a nearby house. “The police were going around arresting people, and I could hear them from where I hid. It was too dangerous for me to go out,” she said. Eventually she left through an alley to another neighbouring house, where she again waited. Two hours later, the police were still arresting people. Inside the home where Khin sought refuge, the owner, a complete stranger, closed all the doors and told her not to leave. “I heard gunshots in the streets but I’m not sure if they actually injured anyone,” she added.
Video apparently taken by residents in the township appears to show security officials shooting a man just metres away as they patrol the area. In the footage, security forces pull a civilian from a building. He is surrounded by officers and does not resist. A shot rings out, and he falls to the floor. Two members of the security forces then drag him away by the arms.
Separately, distressing CCTV footage published by Radio Free Asia showed police stopping an ambulance and detaining three medics. The police assaulted them, kicking and beating them with gun butts.
Dozens of people were rounded up in North Okkalapa, witnesses said, and held by police outside a nearby toy shop, before they were loaded into vans. It is not possible to confirm how many were detained in the area. Since the coup, more than 1,700 people have been arrested across Myanmar, including 29 journalists.
By mid-afternoon, demonstrators pleaded for detainees to be released, and blocked the roads so that the vans could not drive them away. “The men stood in the front, and we girls stood in the back,” said Hnin, another protester, who left her house around 3pm. “Many people were from schools, and from nearby neighbourhoods, so we knew each other. We were persuading each other to keep calm and civil,” she said.
More people from the township seemed to have joined, she said. “We said that we were planning to disperse by 5pm and that we wanted them to release the detainees before then.”
At first, police responded with teargas. Then she heard a series of loud noises, which she believes were machine guns and sound bombs. There was continuous shooting, she said. “A lot of people in front were hit. Some people were hit in the head. We were in shock and had to run,” she said.
“Most people felt completely lost and confused around this time. The police just shot, they didn’t advance – there were too many people and barricades.
“I could see people helping carry the wounded – mostly the men were carrying them. I didn’t dare to look around in case I got shot in the head,” she said. She ran until she reached an alley near to her home.
Zaw, another protester, had been sheltering in a nearby house until mid-afternoon. He had been hit by a smoke bomb in the morning, he said, and was struggling to open his eyes. He also described hearing continuous firing. When he tried to return to the crowd he could see shooting ahead. The air was thick with teargas, but he could see detainees were being taken away.
“We have many lost persons but we cannot confirm who is arrested, who is injured,” said Aung, also a protester. He saw four people who had been shot.
Aung sat out on the road in his neighbourhood until 4am, ready to alert others if the military returned to raid their homes at night – a now common occurrence.
On Thursday, crowds gathered again, and blocked off the roads with makeshift barricades. The protests were peaceful, said Hnin. “That has eased my anxiety,” she said: “But it’s been a pattern of having high death tolls one day and calmness for the next two. So now I’m really afraid.”
Despite this, she said, she will continue to protest: “I believe that we will win. I believe that we deserve democracy.”
