One civilian was killed and another injured when the junta’s armed forces opened fire on the streets of Mogok, Mandalay Region on the night of March 19.
Thirty-year-old Naing Lin Aung, a volunteer with a local Red Cross chapter, was on neighbourhood watch when he was shot in the head and killed.
His is the first known death in Mogok due to a crackdown.
Another man in his 40s was also shot in the head and in the stomach, and sent to the Pyin Oo Lwin military hospital by a local aid group to receive treatment.
“There have been crackdowns on protests during the day, and arrests. But they were shooting with live ammunition at night, and we need to be more careful, for our safety. Last night, they shot continuously as if there was a battle,” Mogok local U Myint told Myanmar Now.
The military council released a statement that the shots in Mogok were fired as a result of a confrontation with the neighbourhood watch after its armed forces asked for barricades to be removed while passing through Lal Oo ward.
However, according to viral videos on Facebook and statements from eyewitnesses, the soldiers got out of their truck to deliberately start shooting at the civilians on watch.
The armed forces entered Mogok at 11:00 p.m. on March 19, opened fire, and left around 30 minutes later.
Naing Lin Aung’s body is being kept at the Mogok Hospital morgue, and his funeral was scheduled to take place on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
Soldiers and police arrived at the hospital at 11:00 a.m. to warn that only family members were allowed to be present at the funeral, and no crowd could gather.
The armed forces also demanded that barricades erected in the area be removed.
Anti-dictatorship protesters have been demonstrating day and night in Mogok. Around 20 people have been arrested including a senior monk, Yaypu Sayadaw.
Original News- Myanmar NOW ( https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/junta-kills-mogok-man-on-neighbourhood-watch )
