Myanmar death toll mounts amid crackdown on coup protests

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>The civilian death toll in the crackdown by the Myanmar junta has reached 550 since the February 1 coup&comma; a human rights group has said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Of those&comma; 46 were children&comma; according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some 2&comma;751 people have been detained or sentenced&comma; the group added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Threats of lethal violence and arrests of protesters have failed to suppress daily demonstrations across Myanmar calling for the military to step down and reinstate the democratically elected government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Late on Friday&comma; armed plainclothes police took five people into custody after they spoke with a CNN reporter in a Yangon market&comma; local media reported&period; The arrests occurred in three separate incidents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two women reportedly shouted for help as they were being arrested&comma; Myanmar Now news service reported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One police officer&comma; who was carrying a gun&comma; asked if &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;anyone dared to help them”&comma; a witness told the news service&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They pointed their pistols at everyone – at passers-by&comma; and at people in the store&comma;” a witness said of two police officers who forcibly took away two other women in the market&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the Karen National Union representing the ethnic minority rebel group that has been fighting the government for decades condemned &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;non-stop bombings and air strikes” against villages and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;unarmed civilians” in their homeland along the border with Thailand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group said in a statement&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The attacks have caused the death of many people including children and students&comma; and the destruction of schools&comma; residential homes&comma; and villages&period; These terrorist acts are clearly a flagrant violation of local and international laws&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In areas controlled by the Karen&comma; more than a dozen civilians have been killed and around 20&comma;000 displaced since March 27&comma; according to the Free Burma Rangers&comma; a relief agency operating in the region&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>About 3&comma;000 Karen fled to Thailand&comma; but many returned under unclear circumstances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thai authorities said they went back voluntarily&comma; but aid groups say they are not safe and many are hiding in the jungle and in caves on the Myanmar side of the border&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than a dozen minority groups have sought greater autonomy from the central government for decades&comma; sometimes through armed struggle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Several of the major groups – including the Kachin&comma; the Karen and the Rakhine Arakan Army – have denounced the coup and said they will defend protesters in their territories&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Friday&comma; After weeks of overnight cut-offs of internet access&comma; Myanmar’s military shut all links apart from those using fiberoptic cable&comma; which was working at drastically reduced speeds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Access to mobile networks and all wireless – the less costly options used by most people in the developing country – remains blocked on Saturday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar&comma; which for five decades languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the generals loosened their grip&comma; culminating in Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to leadership in 2015 elections&comma; the international community responded by lifting most sanctions and pouring investment into the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e1dc689f4f5">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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