On this day in 2021, over 100 people were killed across Myanmar by the military which unleashed a brutal crackdown on civilians staging peaceful protests against the February 1 coup.
The incident marked the bloodiest day of the junta’s crackdown on peaceful protesters since the military seized power from the democratically elected government.
The regime responded to street protests with tear gas and live ammunition, though it first said it only used rubber bullets. Dozens of protesters were killed, many of them targeted in the head.
On March 27, as the military celebrated its first Armed Forces Day since its coup – its soldiers who have taken oath to protect the nation and people – brutally killed civilians.
In his Armed Forces Day address, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing threatened protesters by referring to the military’s strength and how it suppressed the ethnic armed insurgencies, while branding peaceful protesters as rioters.
As it celebrated the Armed Forces Day, the military killed not only protesters but also residents outside their homes in Yangon, Mandalay, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions as well as Shan and Mon states, inflicting more than 100 fatalities across ages and religions. Some bodies were not recovered.
Deputy Russian Defence Minister Colonel General Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin attended the Armed Forces Day, but most Western diplomats shunned the event. A day before, Min Aung Hlaing presented Fomin with an honorary title. The junta chief also summoned military attaches from foreign embassies, and claimed that urban anarchy had erupted in Myanmar, showing them catapults, swords and sticks allegedly used by protesters.
