Security Forces Kill 38 Protesters As Anti-Coup Demonstrations Continue In Myanmar

Security forces fatally shot 38 anti-coup protesters and severely beat several others in Myanmar Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

People returned to continue demonstrations against the Feb. 1 military coup Thursday, the AP reported. More than 50 civilian protesters have been killed by security forces during largely peaceful demonstrations since Wednesday, U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said.

“One was police beating a volunteer medical crew. They were not armed,” Schraner Burgener said, the AP reported. “Another video clip showed a protester was taken away by police and they shot him from very near, maybe only one meter. He didn’t resist to his arrest, and it seems that he died on the street.”

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to convene on Friday and protesters reportedly hope the increasing violence and killings will pressure the international community to act, according to the AP. Video footage of security forces targeting civilians and demonstrators has been posted to various social media platforms.

Security forces followed a civilian and a shot is heard before the person falls to the ground, video shows, the AP reported. The person raises their head and two security officials grab their arms and drag them down the street.

Another video shows around two dozen security forces, some with visible firearms, chasing people wearing construction helmets similar to the ones used by demonstrators, the AP reported. When the forces caught the people they beat them with batons and kicked them while one officer recorded the incident on his phone.

Schraner Burgener said she told Myanmar army officials the U.N. Member States could take “strong measures” against them. The Army responded, “we are used to sanctions and we survived the sanctions time in the past,” according to Schraner Burgener.

“I also warned they will go in an isolation,” to which army officials said, “we have to learn to walk with only few friends,” Schraner Burgener added.

China and Russia would likely veto any action proposed by the U.N. Security Council, though some countries have imposed individual sanctions against Myanmar, the AP reported.