News of her death came as police and soldiers arrested about 50 people in the northern town of Myitkyina, a human rights activist said, after breaking up a procession carrying banners of detained government leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, who had just turned 20, had been on life support since being taken to hospital on Feb. 9, after she was hit by what doctors said was a live bullet at a protest in the capital, Naypyitaw.
“I feel really sad and have nothing to say,” said her brother, Ye Htut Aung, speaking 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.
Friday marks two weeks of daily demonstrations against the military’s seizure of power and the arrest veteran democracy campaigner Suu Kyi.
The protests in towns and cities throughout the ethnically diverse country have been more peaceful than the bloodily suppressed demonstrations during nearly 50 years of direct military rule up to 2011.
But police have fired rubber bullets several times to break up crowds. The army says one policeman died of injuries sustained in a protest.
In Myitkyina, baton-wielding police and soldiers sent protesters scattering down a street lined with shops, video on social media showed.
Rights activist Stella Naw said about 50 people had been detained. “The military truck is just picking people up from the protest,” she said.
Clashes have occurred in the town, the capital of Kachin State, over the past two weeks with police firing rubber bullets and using catapults to disperse crowds…..read more
Source: Reuters
