WOMAN ANTI-COUP PROTESTER SHOT IN HEAD DIES IN MYANMAR

Fri 19 February 2021:

A 20-year old woman died ten days after she was shot in the head during an anti-coup protest in Myanmar’s administrative capital, according to a family member on Friday.

Mya Thwet Thwet Win, a university student, who had just turned 20, had been on life support since being taken to hospital on February 9, after she was hit by what doctors said was a live bullet at a protest in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, 20, who police shot in the head at a protest in Naypyitaw, passed away this morning. She is the first casualty in the ongoing mass protests against the military coup.

Photos show hospital staff carrying her dead body onto a van. #Feb19Coup pic.twitter.com/j9tHej9XHl

— Utopia Of MewGulf “28” Myanmar 🇲🇲 (@28UtopiaMGMM) February 19, 2021

RIP , Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, 19yrs
19.2.2021 / around 11:15 am #Feb19Coup #WhatsHapppeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/yJ1LVsVEME

— Nang Houm Noon Pri (@houm_1) February 19, 2021

“I feel really sad and have nothing to say,” said her brother, Ye Htut Aung, speaking to the Reuters news agency by telephone.

Her death could become a rallying cry for the protesters who were again on the streets on Friday.

“I’m proud of her and I’ll come out until we achieve our goal for her,” protester Nay Lin Htet, 24, told Reuters at a rally in the main city of Yangon.

Ma Thwe Thwe Khaing, who was shot in the head by police during a violent crackdown on protesters in Naypyidaw on February 9, died at around 11 am today. She was only 19 years old. Rest in Power. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/UKA6FU7J98

— Linn Let Arkar (@ArkarLet) February 19, 2021

Mya Tha Toe New, the victim’s sister, said the family decided on Thursday to remove the artificial ventilation system.

“According to doctors, her brain was dead due to the gun wound. She was assumed still alive because of the ventilation system, and we had agreed to remove it yesterday [Thursday]. The post mortem will be carried out today,” she told Anadolu Agency over the phone on Friday.

The ventilation system was removed on Friday at around 11 a.m. local time (0430GMT), she added.

Police claimed they used only rubber bullets in cracking down the protest in Nay Pyi Taw.

However, a local media report citing an unnamed physician treating her and computed tomography said she was severely wounded by live rounds.

The news comes as Myanmar’s military coup leaders stepped up its crackdown against protesters that have emerged in smaller towns and cities across the country, indicating a hardened approach against dissent despite growing international pressure and expanded sanctions.

One video shared by the Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement showed government forces breaking up a march and chasing away protesters at a crowded street. One officer was later shown trying to destroy the banner bearing an image of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Another video posted by US-based news website The 74 Media showed several people, among them journalists carrying their cameras, running away as they were being pursued by government forces.

Protestors in MyitKyiNa were hit and arrested by the brutal polices this morning. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Feb19Coup pic.twitter.com/Tpit9dj774

— Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement (@MyanmarCivilDob) February 19, 2021

Myanmar’s military staged a coup on February 1 after making unverified claims of election fraud.

Five days later, tens of thousands of people started taking to the streets of cities across the country to denounce the military’s move, demanding that they release the detained political leaders and activists, as well as restore the country’s duly-elected parliament.

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