Myanmar: A young woman protester who was shot in the head last week when police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters, died on Friday, her brother said. Twenty-year-old Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing’s death is the first among opponents of military coup.
She had been on life support since being taken to hospital on Feb. 9, after she was hit by what doctors said was a live bullet at a protest in the capital, Naypyitaw.
“I feel really sad and have nothing to say,” said her brother, Ye Htut Aung, speaking by telephone.
“I’m proud of her and I’ll come out until we achieve our goal for her,” protester Nay Lin Htet, 24, told Reuters at a rally in the main city of Yangon.
News of her death came as police and soldiers arrested about 50 people in the northern town of Myitkyina.
Khaing’s death could become a rallying cry for the protesters who were again on the streets on Friday, which marks two weeks of daily demonstrations against the military’s seizure of power and the arrest of veteran democracy campaigner Suu Kyi.