‘Shoot till they are dead’: Police who fled Myanmar reveal orders

Police officers who fled to India give first-hand accounts of how military ordered them to shoot peaceful protesters.

When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot at protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in the Myanmar town of Khampat on February 27, the police lance corporal said he refused to do so. “The next day, an officer called to ask me if I will shoot,” he said. The 27-year-old refused again and then resigned from the force. On March 1, he said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and travelled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before crossing into India’s northeastern Mizoram state.