Myanmar protests continue as military firms up response

Massive crowds gathered in cities and towns all over Myanmar Monday as protest leaders called for a nationwide general strike. In Yangon, more than one thousand protesters gathered around the U.S. Embassy. Demonstrators marched past roadblocks even as riot police in military trucks arrived at the scene. In the three weeks since the military took power, people have taken to the streets daily to oppose the coup.

How have authorities responded? The military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, had threatened to use lethal force if people joined Monday’s strike. On Saturday, security forces fatally shot two protesters in the country’s second-largest city of Mandalay. At least 30 other people sustained injuries. Last week, a 20-year-old woman died after police shot her in the head at a protest earlier this month. The military blamed criminals for protest violence and said security forces had no choice but to fire back.

Dig deeper: Read Angela Lu Fulton’s WORLD Magazine report on the protests against the military’s coup.