It was the deadliest day in Myanmar on Wednesday when forces opened fire on protesters in several cities and towns killing at least six and injuring several others.

Two protesters were killed in the second biggest city of Mandalay on Wednesday while four others were killed in the town of Monywa in the central Sagaing region.

A doctor said one protester was shot in the chest while a 19-year-old woman was shot in her head.

The local media reported that police first used tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters in Mandalay. They opened fire when the crowd re-grouped and resumed their sit-in protest.

In the town of Monywa, a rescue worker said his team handled the bodies of four people and contacted their families. A local news outlet, the Monywa Gazette, put the death toll at five.

There were also reports of live fire and injuries in the city of Yangon, where security forces arrested 300 people and “violently beat up” some protesters.

Video posted on social media showed soldiers and police watching young men, with hands on heads, getting into army trucks.

Forces also blocked off the Hledan Centre junction and fired tear gas at demonstrators in Yangon’s Sachaung area, but the crowds regrouped minutes later.

Protests also took place in the central towns of Monywa, Myingyan and Magway.

Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to make a breakthrough in a virtual foreign ministers’ meeting on Myanmar on Tuesday.

They urged the military junta for restraint, while Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees.

In New York, Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun insisted that he remained the country’s legitimate representative after the military authorities sent a letter saying that the envoy had been dismissed from his post and that his deputy was now in charge.

Myanmar was plunged into chaos on February 1 when the military staged a coup and detained civilian leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military justified the takeover with unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the November 2020 election that returned Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to power.

The story was filed by the News Desk. The Desk can be reached at info@thecorrespondent.com.pk.

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