Myanmar police in search of protesters condemning coup“You guys came to the hell room by hitting them with belts, chains, rifle butts, and clubs.”
Citizens detained for participating in protests against the military coup in Myanmar have testified of human rights abuses and ruthless violence committed by repressors.
On the 10th (local time), Reuters reported the situation at the time based on the information reported by a man who was a participant of the protest and pictures of injuries such as neck and shoulder.
The man, along with 60 participants, escaped to a nearby house while protesting in the Meic area of Tanintari in the south on the 9th.
Soon afterward, the riot troops approached the shelter, picked them up in trucks, transported them to a nearby air base, and separated men and women into detention.
They were beaten with belts, chains, clubs, and bamboo branches until they entered the detention room.
During this process, one soldier said, “You go into the hell room. Try it properly once”, raising the feeling of fear.
The soldiers instructed the man to kneel in the detention room, and the five men next to him were beaten in the back, head, neck, and sides, face to face.
Fortunately, the man and other protesters were released three hours after being detained, but the rest of the citizens were eventually taken to jail.
It is reported that high school students were also included among the protesters who were detained and assaulted that day.
One man, who said he was 30 this year, told local media Irrawaddy, “Everyone, including high school students in prison, was hit with rifle butts and chains.”
In addition, the soldiers were forced to sing protest slogans and songs during the assault process, saying, “You have insulted us as’military dogs’,” he added.
The man was released after submitting a pledge not to participate in the protests again.
As the soldiers received their vows, he said they threatened to “if they were arrested again, the family would see your body.”
A 23-year-old female college student was struck by two rubber bullets in his back during his arrest.
He said, “The soldiers broke through the door of the shelter, and then fired a rubber bullet.”
Myanmar’s military government held a coup on the 1st of last month saying that the general election in November, which was led by National Advisor Aung San Suu Kyi, won overwhelming victory in November last year, saying that it was a fraudulent election.
According to the Myanmar Civil Organization Political Offender Support Association (AAPP), 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 arrested in the process of suppression so far.
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