Thursday, February 14, 2013

Burma police `used white phosphorous' on mine protesters


Burmese police fired military-issue white phosphorus grenades to disperse protesters at a controversial copper mine, a new report says.
Scores of people, many of them monks, were injured and burned when authorities moved in to violently end months of demonstrations in November.
Burmese lawyers and the US-based Justice Trust compiled the report.
It was based on eyewitness testimony, photos and forensic analysis of a used grenade cartridge.

'Military munitions'
The 41-page report says that in the early morning of 29 November, Burmese police repeatedly fired white phosphorus grenades, both into the air and along the ground into camps of protesters.
It quotes witnesses saying they saw bright flares in the sky, and that a sticky, flaming substance was released
"It's unheard of for police to use incendiary military munitions against peaceful protesters during a law enforcement operation," Roger Normand, director of the Justice Trust, said at the report's launch in Rangoon.


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