Myanmar nun pleads with military not to shoot children: ‘Kill me instead’

Sister Ann told riot police she wouldn’t leave unless they promised not to hurt protesters, and they agreed. Shortly afterwards, the gunfire started

A nun is seen pleading with police not to harm protesters in Myitkyina in Myanmar’s Kachin state on Monday (Myitkyina News Journal/AFP)

Powerful images have emerged of the moment when a nun confronted police in Myanmar, kneeling down before them in the street and pleading with them to end their violent crackdown on protesters.

Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng was photographed in the northern city of Myitkyina on Monday, dressed in a white robe and black habit.

The nun told reporters afterwards that she had been pleading with the policemen not to open fire on those demonstrating against last month’s coup, in which the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was swept aside by military generals.

In the pictures, the police decked out in heavy riot gear appear to be acquiescing to Sister Ann’s request, also kneeling and folding their hands in prayer towards her.

“I knelt down... begging them not to shoot and torture the children but to shoot me and kill me instead,” she told the AFP news agency.

And in a further interview with Reuters, she added: “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 crack down on protesters.”

The nun said she received assurances from senior officers that they were only there to clear the road, and she stepped aside.

Despite her efforts, however, gunfire started ringing out soon after the scene captured by photographers.

“We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid’s head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street,” said Sister Ann, who runs a medical clinic in the city.

She and other witnesses said that at least two protesters were killed and several others injured in the city in Kachin state.

Graphic video on social media showed protesters backing away from teargas, responding with rocks and then fleeing a barrage of what seemed to be automatic gunfire.

Sister Ann said she was blinded by teargas herself while trying to help bring some of the victims to her clinic.

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

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

More than 60 people have been killed and more than 1,800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the 1 February coup, according to an advocacy group’s tracking efforts.

Additional reporting by agencies