What's going on in Myanmar?

Tuckerfan · Mar 2, 2021

oldfella1962 · Mar 2, 2021

Not a security council meeting! Next thing ya know a tongue lashing will follow, or possibly....and god I hope it doesn't come down to this....a strongly worded reprimand!
Those Myanmar government goons must be shaking in their boots right about now.

Tuckerfan · Mar 3, 2021

I don't know what to say.

'Everything will be OK': slain Myanmar teen's T-shirt slogan spurs defiance

"Everything will be OK," read 19-year-old Angel's T-shirt as the dancer and taekwondo champion joined anti-coup protesters in Myanmar on Wednesday.

But she had known it might not be OK - leaving details of her blood group, a contact number and a request to donate her body in the event of her death.

Angel, also known as Kyal Sin, was killed by a shot to the head on the streets of Mandalay as she fought for a tentative democracy in which she had proudly voted for the first time last year, an election overturned by the Feb. 1 coup.

Seen in pictures of her at the protest, the phrase from Angel's T-shirt quickly went viral on social media as users posted it in defiance of security forces who killed at least 18 people around Myanmar over the day.

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to a request for comment on the killings.

Myat Thu, who was with her at the protests, recalled a brave young woman who kicked open a water pipe so that protesters could wash tear gas from their eyes, and who lobbed a tear gas cannister back towards the police.

"When the police opened fire she told me 'Sit! Sit! Bullets will hit you. You look like you're on a stage'," recalled Myat Thu, 23. "She cared for and protected others as a comrade."

Myat Thu said he and Angel were among hundreds who had gathered peacefully in Myanmar's second city to denounce the coup and call for the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Before the police assault, Angel can be heard on video shouting, "We won't run" and "blood must not be shed".

First police hit them with tear gas, Myat Thu said. Then the bullets came. Pictures taken before she was killed show Angel lying down for cover beside a protest banner, with her head slightly raised.

Everyone scattered, Myat Thu said. It was only later that he got the message: One girl was dead.

"I didn’t know that it was her," Myat Thu said, but pictures soon appeared on Facebook showing her lying beside another victim.

Wednesday's bloodletting more than doubled the death toll at protests that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to Myanmar's streets. The army, which says one policeman has died, has said it will act against "riotous protesters".

DANCER

Myat Thu got to know Angel at a taekwondo class. She was an expert in the martial art as well as a dancer at Mandalay's DA-Star Dance Club, posting videos of her latest moves on Facebook.

She also shared her pride in voting for the first time on Nov. 8 - posting a picture of herself kissing her finger, stained purple to show she had voted.

"My very first vote, from the bottom of my heart," she posted, with six red hearts. "I did my duty for my country."

The army seized power to annul that vote, alleging that the sweeping victory of Suu Kyi's party was down to fraud. Its accusations were rejected by the electoral commission.

On the day of the coup, Angel joked on Facebook that she hadn't known what was going on when the internet was cut off.

In the days that followed, she made her stand clear - out on the street waving the red flag of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. In one set of pictures she posed as her father tied a red ribbon to her wrist.

She kept going even as protests grew more dangerous and as the junta deployed combat troops with assault rifles alongside police.

Like Angel, more than a dozen other protesters have been killed by shots to the head, raising suspicions among rights groups that they were intentionally targeted. Another woman - a bystander - was shot in the head in Mandalay on Sunday.

Angel had known she was risking her life.

One friend, Kyaw Zin Hein, shared a copy of her last message to him on social media. It read: "This might be the last time I say this. Love you so much. Don't forget".

On Facebook, she had posted her medical details and the request to donate her body if she were killed. Messages of grief and acclaim flooded the page on Wednesday.

"She was a happy girl, she loved her family and her father loved her so much too," said Myat Thu, who is now in hiding. "We are not in a war. There is no reason to use live bullets on people. If they are human, they will not do it."
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Tuckerfan · Mar 6, 2021

oldfella1962 · Mar 6, 2021

newsflash - if you have bloody, deadly violence in the streets you have already ran into some "bad luck" at that point.

Tuckerfan · Mar 7, 2021

Tuckerfan · Mar 13, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

I don't know what to say.

'Everything will be OK': slain Myanmar teen's T-shirt slogan spurs defiance

"Everything will be OK," read 19-year-old Angel's T-shirt as the dancer and taekwondo champion joined anti-coup protesters in Myanmar on Wednesday.

But she had known it might not be OK - leaving details of her blood group, a contact number and a request to donate her body in the event of her death.

Angel, also known as Kyal Sin, was killed by a shot to the head on the streets of Mandalay as she fought for a tentative democracy in which she had proudly voted for the first time last year, an election overturned by the Feb. 1 coup.

Seen in pictures of her at the protest, the phrase from Angel's T-shirt quickly went viral on social media as users posted it in defiance of security forces who killed at least 18 people around Myanmar over the day.

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to a request for comment on the killings.

Myat Thu, who was with her at the protests, recalled a brave young woman who kicked open a water pipe so that protesters could wash tear gas from their eyes, and who lobbed a tear gas cannister back towards the police.

"When the police opened fire she told me 'Sit! Sit! Bullets will hit you. You look like you're on a stage'," recalled Myat Thu, 23. "She cared for and protected others as a comrade."

Myat Thu said he and Angel were among hundreds who had gathered peacefully in Myanmar's second city to denounce the coup and call for the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Before the police assault, Angel can be heard on video shouting, "We won't run" and "blood must not be shed".

First police hit them with tear gas, Myat Thu said. Then the bullets came. Pictures taken before she was killed show Angel lying down for cover beside a protest banner, with her head slightly raised.

Everyone scattered, Myat Thu said. It was only later that he got the message: One girl was dead.

"I didn’t know that it was her," Myat Thu said, but pictures soon appeared on Facebook showing her lying beside another victim.

Wednesday's bloodletting more than doubled the death toll at protests that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to Myanmar's streets. The army, which says one policeman has died, has said it will act against "riotous protesters".

DANCER

Myat Thu got to know Angel at a taekwondo class. She was an expert in the martial art as well as a dancer at Mandalay's DA-Star Dance Club, posting videos of her latest moves on Facebook.

She also shared her pride in voting for the first time on Nov. 8 - posting a picture of herself kissing her finger, stained purple to show she had voted.

"My very first vote, from the bottom of my heart," she posted, with six red hearts. "I did my duty for my country."

The army seized power to annul that vote, alleging that the sweeping victory of Suu Kyi's party was down to fraud. Its accusations were rejected by the electoral commission.

On the day of the coup, Angel joked on Facebook that she hadn't known what was going on when the internet was cut off.

In the days that followed, she made her stand clear - out on the street waving the red flag of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. In one set of pictures she posed as her father tied a red ribbon to her wrist.

She kept going even as protests grew more dangerous and as the junta deployed combat troops with assault rifles alongside police.

Like Angel, more than a dozen other protesters have been killed by shots to the head, raising suspicions among rights groups that they were intentionally targeted. Another woman - a bystander - was shot in the head in Mandalay on Sunday.

Angel had known she was risking her life.

One friend, Kyaw Zin Hein, shared a copy of her last message to him on social media. It read: "This might be the last time I say this. Love you so much. Don't forget".

On Facebook, she had posted her medical details and the request to donate her body if she were killed. Messages of grief and acclaim flooded the page on Wednesday.

"She was a happy girl, she loved her family and her father loved her so much too," said Myat Thu, who is now in hiding. "We are not in a war. There is no reason to use live bullets on people. If they are human, they will not do it."
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It gets worse.

She was shot dead, her body dug up and her grave filled with cement. But her fight is not over

Hours after her family, friends and thousands of mourners laid Angel's body to rest, Myanmar's security forces entered the cemetery under the cover of darkness, dumped the carefully placed flowers and wreaths, and dug up her grave.

The following morning, in footage shared to CNN and from witness accounts, among the detritus left scattered around the desecrated grave were razor blades, rubber boots, surgical gowns, shovels, and a bloodied plastic glove.
Angel's grave had been filled with cement -- a thick gray slab in place of flowers and tributes.

A glove is seen on the freshly-cemented grave of 19-year-old protester, Angel, also known as Ma Kyal Sin, on March 6, in Mandalay, Myanmar, after authorities exhumed her body.
Outrage and grief followed for a second time.

Angel, whose real name was Ma Kyal Sin, died after she was shot in the head in the city of Mandalay on March 3, during a demonstration against the military coup that forced Myanmar's elected government from power.

Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Everything will be OK," the 19-year-old quickly became a symbol of the country's deadly fight for democracy -- her image carried high on signs at protests and in artwork shared online.

Her struggle was emblematic of a generation fighting for freedom and democracy against a brutal and unrelenting junta that has launched a systematic attack against peaceful demonstrators. At least 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured since the coup, according to the United Nations. More than 2,000 have been detained, with allegations of torture and enforced disappearances. Many have not been heard from since.

The pain of a generation of young people cut down in the streets by armed police and soldiers is fueling a white-hot anger and determination that activists say will not be extinguished so easily.

"We will fight till the end, we will never step back, we will not be scared," said Min Htet Oo, a friend of Angel's who was with her when she died.

Bloodiest day
The day of Angel's death, March 3, was one of the bloodiest since protests against the military coup broke out, as security forces opened fire on crowds of people across the country, killing at least 38. Images and footage, captured by bystanders, local reporters and citizen journalists, showed bodies lying in the streets surrounded by pools of blood as protesters ran to take cover.

Angel had joined the protests in Mandalay and was part of a core group of activists on the front lines that shielded other protesters from police advances, snuffed out tear gas canisters with wet cloths or led crowds in chanting, according to her friend Min Htet Oo.

"It was very dangerous as we are at the front line and Angel was with us, she was the only girl in the group. She was the bravest, she was the most active one and commanding everyone at the front line," he said.

Around noon, demonstrators faced off with security forces down Mandalay's 84th street. Footage shows Angel shouting: "I'm afraid, but we will fight for our freedom" and "we won't run."

About half an hour later, activist videos show Angel and the other protesters retreating and crouching, as the sound of gun shots rings out. In one video before her death, she can be heard yelling: "People at the front, please sit down. You cannot be allowed to die."
In the moments before she was killed, photographs showed the back of her head turned toward the line of security forces. In a short video, activists say Angel's arm is visible before she falls to the ground.

Fellow protesters can be seen carrying her to a motorcycle, which races to a makeshift clinic. A doctor pronounced her dead on arrival. The primary cause of death was brain injury caused by gunshot wound, said the doctor, who didn't want to be named for security reasons.

"She was ready to risk her life way before that day," said Min Htet Oo.

A few days before her death, Angel had posted a message on Facebook offering to donate her blood and organs to anyone who might need it.

"Her last words were that she was ashamed that she won't be a dutiful citizen for the country. I asked her what if she died, and she said its worth it if she risks her life to end this system," said Min Htet Oo.

Concerns of a cover up

Thousands of people attended Angel's funeral or followed the hearse procession to the cemetery on their motorcycles. Many held up the three-finger salute from the "Hunger Games" movies that has become a symbol of resistance among protesters.

But just hours after she was buried, Myanmar police dug up Angel's body to perform what they claimed was an autopsy required to investigate the cause of her death.

An eyewitness, who CNN is not identifying for their safety, said between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., about 20 people arrived at the cemetery gates.

"They got here with a car first and a motorcycle and they pointed with guns and asking to open the gate. There was another car from military at the back," the witness said.

"I saw a guy opened the gate for them ... They said we are not allowed to enter, not allowed to come see, and do not inform anyone about it."

The witness said they could not see what the group were doing in the cemetery once they entered, but the following morning saw they had "rebuilt the grave," referring to Angel's plot.

Footage taken by a passerby showed litter strewn around the grave site, including shovels, a bloody plastic glove and razors, apparently left by police from the night before.

News of the exhumation has shocked many, including the doctor who received Angel's body after her death.

"In previous cases that we have dug the body for autopsy we need a lot reasons, like there is a complaint or the family allowed to do it or and so on. For this case I think it is disregard with rules and regulations," said the doctor, who did not want to be named for fear of safety.

Activists had previously raised concerns the military would attempt to cover up how Angel died.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch said, "People are hardly ever exhumed in Myanmar to start with, so there was shock the authorities would go this far."

"But going without notice, in the middle of the night, is a symbolic recognition of the changing rules of the game, because the soldiers and police didn't want to be filmed doing their dirty work," he added.

The Myanmar Police Force said it needed to investigate Angel's death but her family had not consented to an autopsy. In a statement in state media, police said her body was exhumed "with the permission of a judge, district police chief officials, forensic pathologists and witnesses."

The military junta has sought to distance itself from her death, saying security forces used "minimum force" to disperse protesters that day. The conclusion from the police's autopsy on March 4 was that the 1.2 centimeter (0.48 inch) long and 0.7 centimeter (0.28 inch) wide piece of lead lodged in Angel's head, just behind her left ear, did not come from a police bullet.

"The lead piece found in the head was a type of ammunition that can be fired with a shotgun with 0.38 round of ammunition," the police statement said, adding that it "is different from the riot control bullets used by the Myanmar Police Force."

The police appeared to further distance themselves, saying although their forces were "in a face-to-face position to the crowd, the injury was in the back of the deceased person."

"Those who do not want stability in the country are attempting to escalate the conflict," the police said.
But an activist video, filmed moments after Angel's shooting and on the same street where she was fatally wounded, shows a member of the military, firing what appears to be a rifle at the protesters.

Human rights observers raised concerns the junta went to the lengths they did over Angel to try and conceal their actions and to avoid turning her into a martyr.

"The Tatmadaw is willing to kill scores of protesters but they are afraid of making martyrs, and they saw Kyal Sin was rapidly becoming one. So in typical ham-fisted, military style they did their midnight exhumation to justify a coverup medical finding that no one believes," said Robertson.

"The only people out on the street that day with guns were the army and the police, and there were plenty of people who saw her shot and die. By desecrating her grave and her memory, all the authorities did was further stoke the justifiable outrage at her death, and raised her profile even more."

Angel's family has not spoken to the media since her death. When CNN reached out, a family member said they would not comment on her death or graveside autopsy for fear of repercussions.
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More at the link.

Tuckerfan · Mar 20, 2021

oldfella1962 · Mar 20, 2021

shootER · Mar 20, 2021

oldfella1962 said: ↑

View attachment 44747
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I loved that movie when I was a kid, though I could've sworn it aired earlier than 1974.

Asyncritus · Mar 21, 2021

Actually, that's not a bulldozer. It's a backhoe.

Tuckerfan · Mar 27, 2021

NAHTMMM · Mar 27, 2021

I'm sure most of them were breaking windows or something.

Tuckerfan · May 21, 2021

Tuckerfan · Jul 3, 2021

Tuckerfan · Oct 19, 2021

Tuckerfan · Jan 25, 2022

Myanmar court sentences Suu Kyi to 4 more years in prison

2 big energy firms exit Myanmar over human rights abuses by the military government
You know shit is fucked up when energy companies are like, "Whoa! We want nothing to do with this shit."

Tuckerfan · Feb 9, 2022

Steal Your Face · Feb 10, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Myanmar court sentences Suu Kyi to 4 more years in prison

2 big energy firms exit Myanmar over human rights abuses by the military government
You know shit is fucked up when energy companies are like, "Whoa! We want nothing to do with this shit."
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My thoughts exactly.

Tuckerfan · Mar 4, 2022

BTW, folks connected with Russia's disinformation programs were said to have visited Myanmar and met with military leaders shortly before the coup. I'm not saying that there's a direct connection, but...

Tuckerfan · Mar 10, 2022

Tuckerfan · Mar 20, 2022

Tuckerfan · Apr 27, 2022

Tuckerfan · May 5, 2022

Tuckerfan · May 13, 2022

Tuckerfan · Jun 4, 2022

Tuckerfan · Jun 11, 2022

Tuckerfan · Jun 30, 2022

Tuckerfan · Aug 26, 2022

In the horrors of civil war, we have a resistance group having to apologize for killing innocent people.

Myanmar Resistance Group Apologizes for Killing Two Civilians in Bungled Hit

A Mandalay resistance group has publicly apologized after mistakenly killing a married couple instead of a Myanmar junta police officer.

The killings came two days after a family was killed by another resistance group in Saw Township, Magwe Region, on Sunday.

On Tuesday morning, Ko Sithu Ko Ko and his wife Ma Hnin Wai Hlaing were shot dead by the Tiger Force Mandalay (TFM) in Mandalay on a motorbike after dropping their daughter at school.

TFM claimed responsibility but residents reported that the victims had no links to the regime.

On Wednesday, TFM released a statement admitting that it mistakenly killed the couple instead of Police Major Soe Ko Ko from Mandalay’s Criminal Investigation Department.

The group said its scouting team made an error in confirming the identity of the target and was responsible for the killings.

The TFM apologized to the public and victims’ families, promising to accept any punishment in a future criminal prosecution under a civilian government.

On Sunday, the Yaw Defense Force (YDF) killed six members of a family in Saw Township, Magwe Region, alleging that some of the victims belonged to a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia.

Among the victims were the homeowner U Khin Maung Lin, his wife, their daughter-in-law, their 13-year-old granddaughter and U Khin Maung Lin’s brother.

Some valuables were stolen from the house.

Within hours, residents and six other resistance groups condemned the attack, calling it a murder, robbery, dictatorial act and an abuse of power by an armed group.

Amid the criticism, the YDF released a statement saying it will investigate the case.

The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) has also opened a probe and told the YDF to cooperate, U Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the NUG’s defense ministry, told The Irrawaddy.

The YDF, which operates in Saw, Hteelin and Gangaw townships, is not under the ministry’s command.

The resistance group was accused of killing two innocent people from Saw in April. The YDF said the victims were junta informants.

The shadow defense ministry has received complaints accusing the Yinmabin People’s Defense Force (PDF), led by Bo Thanmani in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, of killing 21 people in five cases, along with abductions and robberies.

Bo Thanmani has subsequently admitted committing war crimes.

The ministry’s code of conduct released in September last year prohibits resistance groups from torturing or killing prisoners of war.

Topics: civil disobedience movement, civilian deaths, Coup, crackdown, Democracy, Human Rights, junta, Mandalay, military in politics, military regime, Min Aung Hlaing, National League for Democracy, National Unity Government, November 8 general election, PDF, People’s Defense Force, people’s war, Political Prisoners, regime, Rule of Law, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw, TFM, Tiger Force Mandalay
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We can all agree that the junta running Myanmar are human garbage, and any of them that get killed is justified. However, what far, far too few people realize is that when you're dealing with active resistance to such a regime, even the best-intentioned efforts at fighting them are going to result in innocent people being killed.

Tuckerfan · Sep 18, 2022

Homemade ARs built by resistance fighters.

https://twitter.com/batto_is_outto/status/1571230694055059457?s=46&t=j6Fbn7c5xYvxBHU_9X5KSg

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