MYANMAR PEOPLE MOURN

Myanmar people on Sunday mourned the deaths of at least 114 people who were killed by security forces the previous day in the bloodiest violence since the military seized power in a coup in February, according to local media, according to Kyodo News

The death toll from the crackdowns on anti-coup protests had reached 423 as of Saturday, according to a daily tally released Sunday by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group monitoring the situation in the country.

Saturday's violence drew condemnation from the top defense chiefs of the United States and its allies including Japan, who said in a joint statement that a "professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting -- not harming -- the people it serves."

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi separately condemned the continued use of deadly force by Myanmar's military and police against civilians. So did the South Korean Foreign Ministry, which stated a spokesperson.

The online media Myanmar Now reported that at least 114 people, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed on the country's Armed Forces Day on Saturday. The military had warned that anyone attempting to interfere in the day's events was "at risk of being shot in the head."

In the country's second-largest city Mandalay on Sunday, those who attended the funeral of a 24-year-old man killed the previous day made a three-finger salute to mourn their loss.

The gesture has come to symbolize protesters' resistance to dictatorship.

In Monywa in central Myanmar on Sunday, people marched on streets calling for the restoration of a civilian government, according to U.S. government-funded international broadcaster Radio Free Asia.

Also visible there were the flags of the National League for Democracy, the party led by detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi that was ousted in the Feb. 1 coup.

According to Myanmar Now, security forces threw a 40-year-old resident into burning tires and killed him in Mandalay on Saturday night. The report quoted witnesses as saying that he had been seriously injured after being shot by the security forces.

The tires had been put on a street by residents as a barricade. After the security forces set fire to it, the man was trying to put it out, the report said. He left four children behind, it added.

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