A police officer used a BA-94 or BA-93 submachine gun on 9 February while dispersing a protest in Nay Pyi Taw, wounding a 19-year-old demonstrator in the head, according to human rights activists
Police in Myanmar allegedly fired live ammunition at protesters, seriously injuring one person. That was the claim made by the international human rights organization Amnesty International on Thursday.
On February 9, according to video footage and photographs available to her, a police officer used a BA-94 or BA-93 (Myanmar’s equivalent of Uzi) submachine gun while dispersing a rally in Nay Pyi Taw, leaving a 19-year-old demonstrator wounded in the head. According to local media reports, her chances of survival are low.
Human rights activists claim live ammunition was used in the attack.
“The young girl’s serious injury was the result of Myanmar police using live ammunition against peaceful protesters. We have checked social media footage and it shows police pointing guns at protesters with no regard for the risk to life and limb”, – said Sam Dabberly, head of the organisation’s crisis centre. Amnesty International calls for an immediate halt to such actions, describing them as excessive and unjustified. Human rights activists are also calling for an investigation into the use of live ammunition.
Mass protests are taking place in Myanmar for the fourth consecutive day after the military seized power in the country. Tens of thousands of people marched at a nationwide demonstration on Tuesday despite a ban on gathering more than four people each. According to Frontier Myanmar, law enforcers detained around 200 people in Mandalay.