Myanmar riot police fatally shot two protesters Saturday at an anti-coup rally in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, a local news magazine reported.
One died at the scene from a shot in the head, and ꦅone died on the way to the hospital from a shot to the chest, ,🥂 citing the magazine Frontier Myanmar. The deaths were confirmed on social media by news website Irrawaddy.
Earlier in the day, roughly 500 security forces started🀅 to take a hard𒐪er line with demonstrators, pulling out slingshots, rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas to stay in control.
The rubber bullets seriously injured at least five and dozens were overcome b🐈y the tear gas, reported an AP journali🎀st at the march.
Thousands have filled the streets in Mandalay and Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, since Feb. 1 when military leaders topped the pro-democratic government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being detained.
Also on Saturday, Myanmar sent three ships to neighboring Malaysia to bring b꧋ack more than 1,200 asylu📖m seekers and refugees, pushing the US to pressure Malaysia to stop the deportations.
Hundreds fled Myanmar after the overthrow; the others are Myanmar Muslims and members of the ethnic Chin community who lef💟t to escape persecution.
The two countries struck a deportation deal last week after Myanmar offered🍬 to sꦑend the ships, even though Malaysia has expressed serious concern about the coup, the news service reported.
US diplomats anꦜd their counterparts from other Western nations are tryi꧑ng to persuade Malaysia not to follow through with the plan.
Neither 💞Malaysia nor Myanmar responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.