Daijiworld Media Network

Naypyitaw, Mar 10: In a northern Myanmar town where citizens were agitating against last month's coup, a nun went down on her knees infront of policemen pleading them to stop shooting the protestors. In a video, the nun - Ann Rose Nu Tawng in a white and black robe could be seen kneeling on a street at Myitkyina requesting the policemen where two policemen were also kneeling. The incident took place on Monday, March 8.

However, she did not succeed in preventing the policemen from shooting.

“I begged them not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly like family members. I told them that they can kill me, I am not standing up until they give their promise that they will not brutally crackdown on protesters,” she told reporters.

Tawng said that senior officers had given assurances and that they were just clearing the road, but one of the policemen was seen touching the forehead to he ground and gunfire started soon afterwards. “We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid’s head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street,” Tawng said.

At least two protesters were killed injuring several others, she and other witnesses said. A military spokesman and police in Myitkyina did not respond to requests for comment. Tawng tried to bring some of the victims to the clinic before she was blinded by tear gas.

“Our clinic floor became a sea of blood. We need to value life. It made me feel so sad,” Tawng said.

The nun had also come between protesters and police lines late last month, pleading for peace, local media reported.

Over 60 people have been killed and more than 1,800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the Feb. 1 coup, an advocacy group has said.