![On the 8th (local time), the police are suppressing anti-coup protests in Yanggun, the largest city in Myanmar.[AFP=연합뉴스]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202103/10/adfda2d7-826f-4ffa-ac90-a51fe18528da.jpg?w=560&ssl=1)
On the 8th (local time), the police are suppressing anti-coup protests in Yanggun, the largest city in Myanmar.[AFP=연합뉴스]
Ta Peng, 27, a Myanmar police officer just a month ago, is now in India. After rejecting the orders of his superiors to “shoot until death” at the protesters, he crossed the border to escape retaliation.
According to Reuters on the 10th, he was put into crackdown on protests in Kampat City, Myanmar on the 27th of last month. The boss ordered to fire, but he refused. However, the next day, he said, he received a call asking “Would you like to shoot (next time)?” Eventually, after quitting the police job, he left Myanmar on the 1st, leaving his family behind. He only moved at night to avoid being discovered, and on the 3rd, he arrived in Mizoram, northeastern India.
He told Reuters that “I had no choice.” “We didn’t have the courage to shoot our people, the peaceful protesters.” Ta Peng said, “According to police regulations, the Myanmar police can shoot rubber guns at protesters or shoot live ammunition under the knees,” said Ta Peng. However, he said he received orders from his bosses to “shoot to death.” “I want to see my family, but I don’t want to return to Myanmar because of the fear of the military,” he said.
Ta Peng said that six police colleagues in addition to him did not follow his superior’s firing order during the protests on the 27th.
The border between Myanmar and India is 1643 km. According to Reuters, Myanmar citizens are free to enter the territory of India for a few miles without a travel permit. Due to this special environment, a significant number of Rohingya refugees are currently staying in Mizoram, which is close to Myanmar. According to a senior Indian official, about 100 people came to the area even after the military coup in Myanmar. The official’s message is that many of them are police officers and their families.
Earlier, in an official letter sent to the Indian government, the Myanmar military also demanded that “to keep the relationship between the two countries friendly, please turn over the police in the territory of India.”
Another Myanmar police officer, Ngun Hlei, 23, who stayed in Mizoram, said he was ordered to fire at the protesters. Dal, 24, who was an administrative police officer in Myanmar, was also put on the scene as the protests grew while making a list of detained people. He said he had crossed the border after being ordered to arrest a female protester and rejecting it.
The three police officers interviewed with Reuters reported that there are many supporters of the civil disobedience movement inside the Myanmar police. Ta Peng said, “90% of the police support the protests.”
Recently,’uniform certification photos’ of policemen who support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) are constantly being posted on local social media (SNS) in Myanmar. According to the local media, Irrawaddy on the 5th, more than 600 policemen have joined the civil disobedience movement by opposing the military coup until this day.
In Myanmar, more than 60 people have been killed by shooting and violence by military and policemen since the coup on the 1st of last month, and more than 1,800 have been arrested.
Reporter Jeong Eun-hye [email protected]
