Myanmar’s security forces killed at least 16 protesters on Saturday, as the leader of the ruling junta stressed that the military will protect the people and strive for democracy, according to CNN.
Protesters against the February 1 Myanmar coup stormed the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns, defying a warning they could be shot "in the head and back" as the country's generals celebrated Armed Forces Day.
"Today is a day of shame for the armed forces," Dr. Sasa, a spokesman for CRPH, an anti-junta group set up by deposed lawmakers, told an online forum.
"The military generals are celebrating Armed Forces Day after they just killed more than 300 innocent civilians," he added, giving an estimate of the toll since protests first erupted weeks ago.
When the security forces opened fire at the protestors outside a police station in Yangon's Dala suburb, at least four people were killed, and at least 10 people were wounded, according to reports.
About three people, including a young man who plays in a local under-21 football team, were shot dead in a protest in the Insein district of the city, according to what a neighbor told Reuters.
Four people were killed in Lashio town in the east, and another four in separate incidents in the Bago region, near Yangon, according to media outlets. One person was killed in Hopin town in the northeast.
These deaths will add to a toll of 328 people killed in the crackdown that has followed the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, according to a tally kept by an activist group.
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