Hundreds of peaceful anti-coup protesters have been allowed to leave an area of Yangon where they were cornered in apartment buildings by Myanmar security forces.
The south-east Asian country has been in turmoil since a 1 February coup ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered mass protests against the new military junta.
The police and military have responded with an increasingly brutal crackdown on demonstrators, with more than 50 people killed and nearly 1,800 arrested.
On Monday night, security forces had blocked around 200 people “from leaving a four-street area” in Sanchaung township in the country’s largest city, Yangon, according to the UN rights office. The Associated Press reported that door-to-door searches were carried out, with police searching for protesters who had sought shelter in the buildings.
Early on Tuesday, youth activist Shar Ya Mone told the AP she had been in a building with about 15 to 20 others, but had been able to go home. Another protester posted on social media that they had been able to leave the area at around 5am after security forces left two hours earlier.
While the protesters were trapped, the UN secretary general, António Guterres had called for their release “without violence or arrests”.
Guterres’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said the secretary general had been following the developments “very closely”, particularly in the township “where hundreds of peaceful protesters have been barricaded inside residential apartment complexes for hours”.
Sharp loud bangs had been heard coming from the area, according to an AFP reporter, although it was not immediately clear if the sounds were caused by gunfire or stun grenades. Repeated screaming was audible in a live Facebook stream.
“I just escaped from Sanchaung,” wrote Maung Saungkha, an activist, on Twitter.
“Almost 200 young protesters are still blocked by the police and soldiers there. Local and international community needs to help them now!”
Around 10pm police had begun “shooting and making arrests”, UN rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell said, although she said it was “unclear if they were arresting trapped protesters or newly-arrived demonstrators”.
The UN and embassies in Yangon – including those of the United States and former colonial power Britain – had urged security forces to free the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Zwar Minn, called for the release of the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was arrested along with members of her National League of Democracy government, on 1 Feburary.
The siege came after three protesters were shot dead on Monday.
Guterres also called the occupation of a number of public hospitals in Myanmar by security forces “completely unacceptable,” the UN spokesperson said.
In the northern city of Myitkyina, security forces used teargas and opened fire during street clashes with stone-throwing protesters.
There was grisly footage of bleeding bodies lying on beds as health workers frantically tried to resuscitate them.
One man was also seen lying face down, with part of his skull blown out.
“Two men were shot dead on the spot, meanwhile three others including a woman were shot in the arm,” a medic told AFP.
A third protester was shot dead in the town of Pyapon in the Irrawaddy Delta region, an eyewitness and a rescue official told AFP.
It was also a dark day for independent media in the country, as security forces raided the office of Myanmar Now in Yangon.
The outlet later had its publishing licence revoked, as did independent media Mizzima, DVB, Khit Thit and 7Day, after an information ministry order, state broadcaster MRTV said.
“These media companies are no longer allowed to broadcast or write or give information by using any kind of media platform or using any media technology,” the military government said on state broadcaster MRTV.
All five had been offering extensive coverage of the protests, often with livestreaming video online.
The media curbs followed the closure of banks, stores, shopping malls and some clothing factories Monday after an appeal by trade unions for a general strike to bring the economy to a standstill.
“To continue economic and business activities as usual … will only benefit the military as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people,” 18 unions said in a statement.
“The time to take action in defence of our democracy is now.”
Unions are seeking to ramp up an ongoing “civil disobedience movement” – a campaign urging civil servants to boycott working under military rule which has already hit state machinery hard.
The impact has been felt at every level of the national infrastructure, with hospital disruptions, empty ministry offices and banks unable to operate.
The junta has warned that civil servants “will be fired” with immediate effect if they continue to strike.