With dozens dead from police firing in Myanmar, as thousands take to the streets to protest the military coup and arrest of President Aung San Suu-Kyi, a 45-year-old nun fell on her knees and begged policemen to stop shooting protesters. But they did not listen.
A video of the incident, which took place in the northern Myanmar town of Myitkyina in Kachin state, has gone viral.
A Myanmar nun, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng, kneeled before police officers in the city of Myitkyina to ask security forces to refrain from violence against children and residents https://t.co/ojnACSHY1I pic.twitter.com/eKSd7XM7se
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 9, 2021
“I begged them not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly like family members,” Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“I told them that they can kill me, I am not standing up until they give their promise that they will not brutally crack down on protesters.” She urged the police not to shoot as there was a hospital in the area and children in the vicinity. Tawng runs a clinic nearby.
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The policemen touched their foreheads to the ground in front of them, one folded his hands as well. Sister Tawng said the officers assured her they were only gathering to clear the road. But later, citing witnesses, Reuters reported that two protesters were killed by gunshots to the dead, while three others were injured in the city of Myitkyina.
Tawng herself tried to bring some of the victims to her clinic, before getting blinded by tear gas.
“Our clinic floor became a sea of blood,” she said. “We need to value life. It made me feel so sad.”
This was not the first incident where Tawng put her own life on the line to stop the police from firing on civilians. Just over a week prior, on February 28, another viral image had circulated of Sister Tawng kneeling before police in an attempt to stop them from firing. In that image, she was dressed in black. She told UCA News that they had pleaded with the police not to shoot the unarmed protesters, later getting hit in the leg and chest but suffering only minor injuries.
Tuesday saw the second National League for Democracy party official die in police custody in two days. Zaw Myat Linn was arrested in Yangon after midnight on Monday, and died in custody on Tuesday. While over 60 protesters have estimated to have been killed so far, over 1,800 have been detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
