A young woman who was shot in the head by police during an anti-coup protest in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri township on Tuesday has been put on life support, according to her doctor.
“She is on a ventilator and is being treated in an intensive care unit,” a doctor at the local hospital told Myanmar Now this morning.
Myat Thet Thet Khaing, 19, was one of three people shot during a confrontation on Tuesday between protesters and police in Myanmar’s administrative capital.
One man, Win Htet Moe, has been released from hospital after receiving treatment for a gun wound to his arm, while another, Soe Wai, is in stable condition after being shot in the chest.
“He’s in good shape. The bullet went past his lung, not through it, so he’s OK,” said his doctor, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from the authorities.
On Tuesday, police used water cannons and both live ammunition and rubber bullets against hundreds of thousands of protesters who had converged at major intersections in Naypyitaw.
In Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, at least two other people were also shot by police while riding motorbikes as part of an anti-coup protest. No details were available about their condition.
The shootings marked the first use of lethal force against protesters calling for the restoration of the country’s newly elected government.
In Yangon and elsewhere, however, there are fears that the recent appearance of pro-military groups at protest sites could signal the start of a more violent phase of the uprising, which has so far remained mostly peaceful.
Despite yesterday’s crackdowns, protesters continued to pour into the streets early Wednesday for another day of demonstrations against last week’s coup.
At 8am on Wednesday, uniformed civil servants in Naypyitaw joined the nationwide civil disobedience movement with chants of “Don’t go to the office! Let’s liberate ourselves!”
