Rangoon, Burma.
“Don’t shoot the kids!” Sister Ann Rose Nu Twang se kneel down, extends the arms in crotch and begs its Burmese troops. In vain, that same day, March 8, three protesters who were pro-democracy they were shot.
It is not known with certainty where the shots, but the police and the army they have not hesitated to use live ammunition since the peaceful revolt against him coup that threw the civil government of Aung San Suu Kyi, February 1.
On March 8, hundreds of people, mostly members of the ethnia kachin, take the streets of Mytkyina (north), the usual scene from demonstrations since the coup. Among the protesters can be seen numerous Burmese willing to commemorate andl International Women’s Day.
But late in the morning the atmosphere degrades.
Police and army they throw tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse the crowd that answers projectilesSeveral in the distance explosions.
The protesters take cover after a few days barricades raised to hurry with veneer, wood paneling and bricks.
In the crowd, dressed in a white robe, the non Ann Rose Nu Twang, 45, is approaching security forces.
S.and kneel Y two police officers do the sameand folded their hands as a sign of respect for the nun. Others, on the other hand, stay indifferent, according to images released by a local retail outlet, the Myitkyina News Journal.
“Its suplicated that they will not shoot […], which instead of it will kill me. I put my hands in sign of forgiveness“the nun tells AFP.
“I was not afraid”
But not far from there, one more group of police officers To start with shoot, to remember.
Some images released by social networks show motionless protesters and under the blood. There is one on the floor, face down, with his head half torn off.
“It was a moment of it panic. I was in the middle and couldn’t do anything, ” he explains, although qualifying: “I was not afraid”.
Others two nuns They come to support her. “Stop, they are torturing and killing peopleThat’s why humans are angry and it manifests, ”launches one of them.
Three protesters are killed. On Tuesday one of the victims, Zin Min Htet, was buried and a large crowd came to pay a final tribute to him, gathered around his coffin, covered with flowers, and greeted the three fingers, symbol of resistance.
The act of courage of Ann Rose Nu Twang was especially widely shared on the country’s social networks Buddhist.
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On February 28, the nun had already distinguished himselfI go on his knees for itcome to the security forces to ask them caution.
At least 60 civilians have lost live since the coup and more than 1,800 have been detained, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners.
The state media denies any involvement of the police or military in the deaths of civilians, and assures that the security forces must “control the disturbances as required by law”.