WRAPUP 13-Nearly 40 people killed in Myanmar as security forces quell anti-coup protests - UN envoy

* Police fire on protesters in several places
* "It's a massacre" - protester
* State media says "illegal organisations" creating unrest
* Myanmar's ousted president faces new charges - lawyer

March 3 (Reuters) - Thirty-eight people were killed in
Myanmar on Wednesday as the military quelled protests in several
towns and cities, the United Nations said, the most violent day
since demonstrations against last month's military coup first
broke out.
Police and soldiers opened fire with live rounds with little
warning, witnesses said.
The bloodshed occurred one day after neighbouring countries
had called for restraint in the aftermath of the military's
overthrow of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It's horrific, it's a massacre. No words can describe the
situation and our feelings," youth activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi
told Reuters via a messaging app.
The dead included four children, an aid agency said.
Hundreds of protesters were arrested, local media reported.
"Today it was the bloodiest day since the coup happened on
the 1st of February. We had today — only today — 38 people died.
We have now more than over 50 people died since the coup
started, and many are wounded," United Nations special envoy on
Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said in New York.
A spokesman for the ruling military council did not answer
telephone calls seeking comment.
Ko Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners rights group, had said earlier the military
killed at least 18. But the toll rose by the end of the day.
In the main city Yangon, witnesses said at least eight
people were killed, one early in the day and seven others when
security forces opened sustained fire in a neighbourhood in the
north of the city in the early evening.
"I heard so much continuous firing. I lay down on the
ground, they shot a lot," protester Kaung Pyae Sone Tun, 23,
told Reuters.
A protest leader in the community, Htut Paing, said the
hospital there had told him seven people had been killed.
Hospital administrators were not available for comment.
After nightfall, Yangon residents lit candles and held
prayers for the dead.
In the central town of Monywa, six people were killed, the
Monywa Gazette reported. Others were killed in the
second-biggest city Mandalay, the northern town of Hpakant and
the central town of Myingyan.
Save the Children said in a statement four children were
among the dead, including a 14-year-old boy who Radio Free Asia
reported was shot dead by a soldier on a passing convoy of
military trucks. The soldiers loaded his body onto a truck and
left the scene, according to the report.
The violence took place a day after foreign ministers from
Southeast Asian neighbours urged restraint but failed to unite
behind a call for the release of Suu Kyi and the restoration of
democracy.
Pope Francis said on Twitter: "Sad news of bloody clashes
and loss of life...I appeal to the authorities involved that
dialogue may prevail over repression."
The European Union said the shootings of unarmed civilians
and medical workers were clear breaches of international law. It
also said the military was stepping up repression of the media,
with a growing number of journalists arrested and charged.
"There must be accountability and a return to democracy in
Myanmar," the EU said.

'WE SHALL OVERCOME'
Security forces breaking up protests in Yangon detained
about 300 protesters, the Myanmar Now news agency reported.
Video posted on social media showed lines of young men,
hands on heads, filing into army trucks as police and soldiers
stood guard. Reuters was unable to verify the footage.
Images of a 19-year-old woman, one of the two shot dead in
Mandalay, showed her wearing a T-shirt that read "Everything
will be OK".
Police in Yangon ordered three medics out of an ambulance,
shot up the windscreen and then kicked and beat the workers with
gun butts and batons, video broadcast by U.S.-funded Radio Free
Asia showed. Reuters was unable to verify the video
independently.
Democracy activist Esther Ze Naw told Reuters that the
sacrifices of those who died would not be in vain.
"We shall overcome this and win," she said.
On Tuesday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) failed to make a breakthrough in a virtual foreign
ministers' meeting on Myanmar.
While united in a call for restraint, only four members -
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore - called for
the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees.
"We expressed ASEAN's readiness to assist Myanmar in a
positive, peaceful and constructive manner," the ASEAN chair,
Brunei, said in a statement.
Myanmar's state media said the military-appointed foreign
minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, attended and "apprised the meeting
of voting irregularities" in the November election.
The military justified the coup by saying its complaints of
voter fraud in the Nov. 8 vote were ignored. Suu Kyi's party won
by a landslide, earning a second term.
The election commission said the vote was fair.
Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to
hold new elections but given no time frame.
Suu Kyi, 75, has been held incommunicado since the coup but
appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing this week and
looked in good health, a lawyer said.
The U.N. Security Council is due to discuss the situation
on Friday in a closed meeting, diplomats said. The 15-member
council has voiced concern over the state of emergency, but
stopped short of condemning the coup last month due to
opposition by Russia and China. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
EXPLAINER-Can Southeast Asian diplomacy end crisis in Myanmar
doctors and a fortune-teller: Myanmar's new wave of
detainees https://tmsnrt.rs/307yypD
Shots fired as Myanmar journalist live-streams police raid to
detain him looks to tougher sanctions as Myanmar violence
intensifies in Myanmar since the coup https://tmsnrt.rs/3ujRYp2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>