Myanmar coup: Huge crowds mourn woman killed in protests - BBC News
Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot just before her 20th birthday, during rallies against a military coup.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot in the head just before her 20th birthday by security forces

Huge crowds in Myanmar's capital Nay Pyi Taw have attended the funeral of a young woman killed in protests against a military coup.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was shot in the head just before her 20th birthday, the first of at least three people to die in the protests.

On Sunday, thousands lined the streets to honour her, some making the three-fingered salutes used by demonstrators.

The military overthrew the elected government earlier this month.

Promises to hold early elections have failed to satisfy demonstrators, who are also seeking the release of the elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The military alleges the NLD's landslide election win last year was fraudulent but has not provided proof.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, a supermarket worker, was injured when police tried to disperse protesters earlier this month. She was kept on life support for 10 days but died on Friday.

She has become a focal point for demonstrators, with her image often displayed by people resisting the coup.

Her coffin was driven through the streets in a black and gold hearse, accompanied by hundreds of motorbikes.

Protesters took to the streets across the country again on Sunday, despite the previous day seeing the worst violence yet in weeks of protests.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing's body was driven through the streets of the capital

Two protesters were shot dead when police used live ammunition to disperse crowds.

The deaths brought widespread condemnation, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres saying: "The use of lethal force, intimidation & harassment against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable."

Also on Sunday, the wife of prominent actor Lu Min said he had been arrested after posting a video denouncing the military leadership.

The two-week-old civil disobedience movement in Myanmar now has its martyrs - represented in posters, paintings and cartoons at rallies which have continued to take place across the country.

Their deaths will inflame public anger against the military government, but remind people too of the cost of resisting it.

The plan now is to escalate the daily protests into a nationwide general strike, starting next week.

This must damage an economy which is already suffering from the Covid pandemic - but its effect on the generals who seized power is harder to predict.

In the early hours of Monday, Myanmar entered its second week of nightly internet shutdowns, monitoring group NetBlocks reported.

The junta has been regularly blocking the web to try to stifle mass protests.

"In line with our global policies, we've removed the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm," the company said.

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. From blindfolded protests to dressing like Aung San Suu Kyi, why creatives are concerning Myanmar's army

The site is the main one run by the military, used to issue warnings to protesters and push its allegations about the election results.

Facebook is the primary source of information and news in Myanmar. An estimated 22 million of the 54 million people in Myanmar use Facebook.

The military's leader Min Aung Hlaing and other top army chiefs are already banned from Facebook over allegations of human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims.