New Delhi: Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare "the children" and take her life instead, a photo of her kneeling in front of the officers in the city of Myitkyina has caught people's attention.
Her act of bravery has won her praise in the majority-Buddhist country and now from the rest of the world.
"I knelt down... begging them not to shoot and torture the children, but to shoot me and kill me instead," she told AFP on Tuesday.
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After Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Win Myint were detained along with other leaders of the National League of Democracy (NLD) party on February 1st 2021, people have taken to the streets demanding democracy. Protesters took to the streets of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, on Monday wearing hard hats and carrying homemade shields.
The military has steadily escalated its use of force, using tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets, and live rounds. When the police started massing around the protesters Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng and two other nuns pleaded with them to leave.
Moments later, as she was begging for restraint, the police started firing into the crowd of protesters behind her, she saw a man shot in the head fall dead in front of her. According to an AFP report, two men were shot dead on the spot during Monday's clash, though it did not confirm whether live rounds or rubber bullets were used.
This wasn't Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng's first encounter with the security forces on February 28th 2021, she slowly walked towards the riot police and pleaded them to stop. She was quoted by AFP as saying, "I have thought myself dead already since February 28," she said of the day she made the decision to stand up to the armed police.
Over 60 people have been reported to have been killed in the violent clashes, at least 38 protesters were killed earlier this month.
Watch the video: