Coup in Myanmar: Health workers rally amid crackdown

Doctors and nurses in central Myanmar rallied in the streets donning hard hats and brandishing posters of Suu Kyi as security forces shot dead an anti-coup protester yesterday.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since soldiers ousted civilian leader Suu Kyi last month, triggering nationwide protests demanding a return to democracy.

Security forces have responded with lethal force, using live rounds along with tear gas and rubber bullets in an effort to bring the demonstrations to heel.

One man was killed yesterday in the central city of Monywa and at least two people were injured in a clash with security forces at barricades, two witnesses told AFP.

"I saw people carrying a man who was shot and killed," a local resident told AFP, adding the body was taken to a local hospital.

"They used stun grenades and tear gas... later they started shooting. I don't know if the man, who died on the spot after he was hit on his head, was killed from rubber bullets or live rounds."

Australia's foreign ministry confirmed yesterday it was providing consular assistance to two of its nationals in Myanmar.

"Due to our privacy obligations we will not provide further detail," a spokeswoman said.

It is understood business consultants Matthew O'Kane and Christa Avery, a dual Canadian-Australian citizen, are under house arrest after trying to leave the country on a relief flight Friday.

The couple run a bespoke consultancy business in Yangon.

A third Australian, economist Sean Turnell, an advisor to Suu Kyi, who was arrested a week after the putsch also remains in custody.

Weekend violence failed to deter hundreds of doctors and nurses donning hard hats and brandishing posters of Suu Kyi as they marched at dawn through Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city and cultural capital.

"Failure of the military regime, our cause our cause ... federal democracy, our cause our cause," the crowd chanted.

Mandalay has been the scene of some of the worst violence from police and soldiers since the coup and local media said the rally was staged at dawn to evade security forces.

The protests came a day after a local monitoring group confirmed the killing of four protesters at the hands of security forces around the country.

Two of the deaths were in Yangon, the country's commercial hub, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The junta says a November 8 election won by Suu Kyi's party was fraudulent, an accusation rejected by the electoral commission. The military leaders have promised a new election but have not set a date.

Coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday visited the Coco islands, one of Myanmar's most strategically important outposts, 400 km (250 miles) south of Yangon, and reminded members of the armed forces there that their main duty was to defend the country against external threats, reports Reuters.

MOTHER MOURNS 'HERO SON'

Mourners in the city laid to rest a 26-year-old who died Saturday while in custody after being shot and arrested the previous night.

Myo Myint Aung's mother cried over the coffin at the funeral service, saying that her son was still a child in her eyes.

"I am really proud of what you did for democracy and this country," she said, in a video of the funeral service posted on social media. "You are a real hero."

A funeral was also held for mother-of-three Mar La Win, 38, who died earlier this weekend in the central city of Pakokku along the Irrawaddy river.

"My family is broken now," her husband Myint Swe told AFP as the red flag of Suu Kyi's political party was draped on her coffin surrounded by flowers.

Elsewhere the heartbroken family of 15-year-old Aung Kaung Htet, who was shot in the forehead at a protest at Tamwe, Yangon, paid tribute to the teenager.

Mourners held up the three-finger salute -- a symbol of defiance -- at his funeral.

Nearly 250 deaths have been confirmed in the weeks since the coup, the AAPP reported, although the true toll could be higher. More than 2,300 others have been arrested, the group said.