Two killed in police firing on protestors in Myanmar

Marking a violent turn in the ongoing protest movement in Myanmar, two protestors were killed in police firing in the second largest city of Mandalay on Saturday. Earlier, one young student died on Friday after she was injured ten days back in police firing in the capital city of Naypyidaw. With the latest deaths, the number of protestors killed in Myanmar agitation has gone up to 3. The military government also claimed that a policeman had been killed after he was injured by protestors. 
Protestors took to streets in several cities and towns on Saturday. Ethnic minorities, transport workers and poets joined the protest demanding an end to the military rule, reports Reuters. Some demonstrators fired catapults at the police which responded with tear gas and firing, though it is not clear if they fired live ammunition or rubber bullets. A volunteer from the demonstrators told Reuters that twenty people were injured in the firing by the security personnel.

According to reports,tensions escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers and other protesters. Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets.Police responded with tear gas and gunfire, and witnesses said they found the cartridges of both live rounds and rubber bullets on the ground.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was "deeply concerned" by reports that security forces had fired on protesters and continued to detain and harass demonstrators and others."We stand with the people of Burma," Price wrote on Twitter. Myanmar is also known as Burma.Britain said it would consider further action against those involved in violence against protesters, and the French foreign ministry called the violence "unacceptable."