Locals reflect on the events that transformed Maha Aungmyay Township into a focal point of anti-coup resistance, as well as the heavy toll taken by military repression 

On February 20, 2021, three weeks after the military coup, employees of the Yadanarbon Port in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township went on strike in protest—one of a series of actions that would transform the area into a site of ongoing resistance.

As junta forces demanded that ships docked on the Ayeyarwady River restart operations, locals gathered and began demonstrating against the intervention. 

“We went to protest at the port because they were forcing the employees to run the ships again. We didn’t know that they would respond in the way that they did,” said Lin, a man who took part in the protests.

He was referring to a brutal crackdown in which troops fired rubber bullets into the crowd of civilians before switching to live ammunition. 

Sixteen-year-old Wai Yan Tun and 40-year-old Thet Naing Win, also known as Min Min—both area residents—were shot dead as the violence unfolded. More than a dozen others were seriously injured. 

“We thought they were only using rubber bullets, so we fired back with our slingshots,” Lin told Myanmar Now. “Then a sniper shot Wai Yan Tun in the head. His entire head exploded right in front of us. We were in shock when we saw that happen.”

Soldiers from the 33rd Light Infantry Division, which was implicated in the Inn Din massacre, were spotted on Saturday.

The boy had worked in the local market on Kanna Road near the port, carrying heavy loads of goods for vendors. 

“He didn’t have strong political opinions as he was only 16, but he knew right from wrong. He knew that the coup was unfair and unjust. That was why he went to the protests,” Lin said. 

Area residents later renamed the Kanna Road Market the Wai Yan Tun Market in his honour, but the military authorities have never acknowledged the change. 

More than three weeks later, in the scorching heat of Mandalay’s dry season, thousands of protesters gathered on a road in Maha Aungmyay’s Sein Pan ward in a “Sitting Strike,” chanting in unison for the fall of the coup regime.  

The action was held in commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the death of Phone Maw, the first student killed by the military during an earlier wave of pro-democracy protests in 1988. 

Again, junta troops used lethal force in an attempt to break up the demonstration, blocking the streets leading into and out of the ward. They began shooting into the crowd, as well as storming homes, arresting and assaulting civilians. 

A Mandalay-based journalist who was present at the scene recalled the horrifying events that followed.

“I was trapped along with the protest mob. There was no place to run when they started shooting,” she said. “We had to run towards someone in a small wooden house who was calling out to us, yelling ‘Kids! Kids! Come in here!’” 

An elderly woman hid her, along with 10 fleeing protesters.

“I will never forget what happened that day. I was inches away from death. We were staring into each other’s eyes in a narrow attic and we could hear each other breathing,” she remembered. “There were more than 30 gunshots fired outside. We could hear people wailing until they choked and their voices cracked, and the soldiers were yelling at people to put their hands behind their heads and beating them.”

“It was enough to drive a person insane,” she added. 

While she and the protesters in the house were able to escape before the junta troops searched the property, they saw that those seeking refuge in the residence across the street were apprehended. An eyewitness to the crackdown described how the home’s owner, Daw Pyone, was reportedly shot and killed at point blank range. 

“The old lady begged the troops for mercy when they told her to give the protesters up, and a soldier shot her in the head. The protesters came out of the house and surrendered out of guilt,” the individual said. “Only seven of them who were hiding under the bed managed to escape.”

As she ran, the local journalist recalled seeing “horribly disfigured bodies” in the street and people “crying and covered in blood,” as members of a local social welfare group tried to provide first aid.

She told Myanmar Now that after that incident she struggled with flashbacks, had difficulties eating, and was unable to write news, as her job required. 

“I couldn’t do anything but put my head underwater and scream,” she said. “I felt like I saw hell in front of my eyes.” 

The total number of people killed in the six-hour suppression of the demonstration in Maha Aungmyay remains unconfirmed, but thousands are believed to have taken part in the protest. Myanmar Now was able to verify five deaths; in these cases the bodies of the victims were returned to their families. More are believed to have died, their bodies seized by the military.

Around two weeks after the violence of March 13, anonymous resistance forces in Maha Aungmyay retaliated. 

On April 1, unknown perpetrators set fire to the junta’s administration office in Than Nauk ward, destroying the structure, a symbol of the military council’s claim to government legitimacy. 

As efforts were made over the following months to rebuild the office, several anti-junta guerrilla forces that had formed in the aftermath of the coup orchestrated attacks at the construction site using improvised explosive devices. 

“The entire population of the ward was against the rebuilding of the administration office. They kept rebuilding it anyway and the explosions kept happening as well,” a Than Nauk resident said.  

Myanmar Now confirmed that there had been at least eight blasts at the administration office since the coup. 

During the same period, guerrilla forces also assassinated several junta personnel in Maha Aungmyay. Among them were the administrators of Ayadaw and Hayma Marlar wards and several alleged junta informants. 

The military council awarded more than 400 administrators nationwide “medals of bravery” in January for assisting in the operation of their government mechanism—six were from the Mandalay township. 

Amid the ongoing struggle, anti-coup actions have continued to take unexpected forms, including from vendors who once sold jewels in Maha Aungmyay’s gemstone centre in eastern Daywun ward. 

To avoid paying a required tax to the military regime, many gems dealers refused to work at the site, which has been bombed multiple times by urban guerrilla groups who aim to cut off the junta’s sources of revenue. 

The vendors instead moved their businesses from the official marketplace—once home to 1,000 shops—to a nearby area along the Thingazar Stream. 

“The primary driving factor for us is that we don’t want to pay taxes to the military but we still have to work in order to make ends meet,” Thet, a gems dealer, said.

“That’s why we started trading along the shores of the stream, but the military came there frequently, shooting at and arresting us. Those that were captured were forced to conduct business back in the centre.”

The explosion comes as gems dealers face increasing pressure from Myanmar’s junta to return to business as usual 

Several dealers continue to do business elsewhere and have refused to return to the designated market. 

In opposition to the military council’s repression in and hold on Maha Aungmyay, would-be Buddhist monks have also opted not to join several well-known monasteries in the township, including Hpayar Gyi, Ma Soe Yein and Mya Taung. The three sites once hosted nearly 5,000 novices but as of last August, just over 1,000 men were studying there, according to local abbots. 

Guerrilla presence in the township has also increased, with several junta troops injured in explosive attacks on army vehicles and offices in recent months. 

Generation Z Power is among the armed resistance forces that have claimed responsibility for assaults on military personnel, positions and movements in Maha Aungmyay. Its members assassinated an off-duty officer, Lance Corporal Tin Myo Htwe, from Infantry Battalion 322 based in northern Shan State’s Laukkai while he was visiting his mother in the township in June. 

“Our township is never going to back down,” another resident of Maha Aungmyay said. “We will revolt in any way we can.” 

Independent media is under attack in Myanmar... help us hold the powerful to account.

Fighting has been almost continuous in AA territory since late last month, the group’s spokesperson said on Thursday

Regime forces have abandoned seven bases in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township amid growing tensions in the region, according to the Arakan Army (AA).

AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha made the claim at a press conference held on Thursday. 

“We didn’t seize control of those bases, the junta soldiers who were stationed in them just left,” he said, adding that there have been numerous clashes in the area since last month.

According to Khaing Thukha, tensions began to escalate after AA troops captured 14 junta personnel, including a police major and members of a regime-backed Border Guard Force, on July 18.

Since then, he said, there has been almost continuous fighting in Maungdaw and in southern Shan State’s Paletwa Township.

Khaing Thukha said that on several occasions, soldiers who left the bases were arrested by AA forces as retaliation for the detention of civilians accused of associating with the group.

He added that there are currently around 50 such individuals in junta custody. Many, he said, have been tortured and are facing criminal charges.

“They just make up excuses to arrest anyone they please,” said Khaing Thukha, adding that the AA has been making efforts through an unnamed third-party organisation to win the release of the prisoners.

Meanwhile, he urged members of the public to exercise caution when travelling, as the military continues to make arrests.

“We are having problems because the military is oppressing civilians in various ways. I just want to warn the public to be very careful while travelling,” he said.

Although the AA and the military entered into an informal ceasefire agreement in November 2020 after two years of fierce fighting, clashes have resumed since late last year.

Since then, the situation has steadily deteriorated. The arrest of several AA negotiation officers in May signalled another dramatic decline in trust between the two sides.

Khiang Thukha also warned on Thursday that “serious action” would be taken against junta-appointed officials in Rakhine State if they continued to cooperate with the regime.

Others who collaborate with the military should also be prepared to face consequences, he added.

“We will take necessary action against anyone who works for the regime, because they are one of the reasons that the military is able to terrorise civilians the way they do,” he said.

Myanmar’s junta has not commented on the recent situation in Rakhine State or responded to the AA’s claims.

Independent media is under attack in Myanmar... help us hold the powerful to account.

Francisco, also known as Saya Ko, was killed near his home in Pekhon Township on Thursday, local sources said

The leader of a group representing the Kayan people was shot and killed near his home in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township on Thursday, according to local sources. 

Francisco, also known as Saya Ko, was the chair of the Kayan Literature and Culture Committee, a group that promotes the culture of the Kayan people, an ethnic Karenni sub-group.

He was killed near his farm in Naung Lai, according to a resident of the village who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

“Two gunmen approached him at his farm in the northern part of the village. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, due to the complicated political situation,” he said.

Baham Htan, an ethnic Kayan who serves as the deputy minister for human rights in the civilian National Unity Government, called the assassination a great loss for the Kayan people.

“It breaks my heart,” he said in a post on social media.

The Kayan Literature and Culture Committee also released a statement condemning the killing, saying that it was not the way to resolve political disputes.

Francisco, 59, served as patron of the committee from 2012 to 2018, and as its chair from 2018 until his death.

In 2010, he was elected to represent Pekhon Township in the Pyitthu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, as an MP for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). 

He ran again for the same seat as a USDP candidate in 2015 but lost. He also made an unsuccessful bid as the party’s candidate for Kayan ethnic affairs minister in Shan State in 2020.

There are around 80,000 Kayan people living in Shan State and another 70,000 in neighbouring Karenni (Kayah) State.

Independent media is under attack in Myanmar... help us hold the powerful to account.

The Myanmar army and the Shanni Nationalities Army set fire to hundreds of homes in the village of Sezin following a day-long clash with Kachin forces, residents say

Locals have accused the Myanmar army and the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA) of carrying out an arson attack on a village in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township on Wednesday morning, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of homes and the death of several civilians.

One day earlier, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had attacked the police station in the village in question—Sezin, some 50km southwest of the town of Hpakant—but military airstrikes prevented the ethnic armed organisation from capturing the post. 

The burning followed a day-long battle on Tuesday in which Myanmar military troops who had been airlifted to the site fought alongside the SNA against the KIA, firing heavy artillery and dropping bombs which destroyed two homes. 

At least eight air attacks were launched during the episode of fighting, locals told Myanmar Now. 

The junta and SNA forces allegedly started torching homes in Wards 4 and 5 in Sezin at 1am, around five hours after the KIA was forced to withdraw. 

“The last time that they came here, they threatened to burn the village down. We had been worried about it ever since,” a 40-year-old Sezin resident said. 

Another man from Sezin explained that the first houses targeted were located near the village’s police station and the monastery. 

“Nothing much is left in the village as they carried out the attack in three separate places. We couldn’t go and put out the fire either, since they would shoot us,” he said, describing how SNA troops fired shots at civilians attempting to extinguish the blaze after the KIA had withdrawn. 

Locals speculated that between 200 and 400 of Sezin’s 700 households were destroyed.

By 4am on Wednesday, the majority of the village’s residents escaped to the villages of Hawng Par and Tar Ma Khan, 20 miles away, the second man from Sezin said. 

At least nine villagers are believed to have been shot and killed as they fled.

“A couple and their child were planning to leave at around 6am and they were all shot dead,” the local man claimed. 

Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the number of civilian casualties in the attack. 

Some 200 residents who were unable to leave are said to be trapped inside the Sasannapala monastery, located near the village’s police station, and held hostage by the occupying troops at the time of reporting. 

“We were told that the military was not allowing them to leave the monastery compound. Even the monks can’t leave,” a 50-year-old woman from Sezin said, claiming that she had heard that at least one person, a girl, had been shot for trying to leave. 

KIA forces successfully overran an army outpost a day before their failed attempt to seize control of a police station on Tuesday

When contacted by Myanmar Now to comment on the allegations of arson and murder in the Hpakant Township village, SNA spokesperson Col Sai Aung Mein claimed that members of the KIA and the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF)—who often fight alongside the Kachin army—were the ones who had torched the homes. 

“Most of the people we asked told us that it was the PDF and KIA that torched the village. I heard they’d set up a station inside the police station and that they were still firing shots,” he told Myanmar Now.  

Col Sai Aung Mein added that SNA troops were still stationed at a small base near Hpakant’s border with Homalin Township in Sagaing Region, and had not engaged in any battles with the KIA since Monday. 

Myanmar Now tried to contact KIA information officer Col Naw Bu, but the calls went unanswered. 

Locals previously accused the SNA of carrying out searches in Sezin on two days in late June, and said that tension had risen in the area after the KIA set up a post in the southern part of the village on June 30. 

The Kachin forces surrounded and attacked a junta column that had been carrying out assaults near Sezin on July 16. Serious battles took place over the next three days, with the military launching multiple airstrikes in an attempt to create an escape route for a trapped unit of soldiers. 

After regrouping, the junta forces set up a post on a hill in eastern Sezin. The KIA attacked the station, as well as an SNA checkpoint, on Monday, overrunning both locations.  

Independent media is under attack in Myanmar... help us hold the powerful to account.

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

Independent media is under attack in Myanmar... help us hold the powerful to account.

No 253/285, Room (A), 12th Floor, Great Cairo Condo Konzaydan Street, Pabedan Township, Yangon, Myanmar

Copyright © 2022 Myanmar NOW. All rights reserved.

help us continue our vital reporting.