wayside, we would think, and clubs will have to find a way told fulfill them. ♪ >> you are watching al jazeera. reminder of our top stories, opposition protesters killed on friday, the total to four and three days of confrontations with police in the capital of dhaka. our reporter has more from the capital. reporter: the response from the government itself has been muted , just a statement telling people to stay indoors and follow the rules and regulations instilled by the government. but look at the protest behind

me. this is a defiant crowd. [crowd chanting] it seems to be unwilling to listen to government advice. they want to get towards the march that is ahead of us, where there are opposition actors and civil societies that have gathered together, that planned this march against the government, also calling for the liberation. 1 the u.n. -- anchor: the you and special envoys calling for swift action by the security council against the myanmar military following the killing of an anti-to protester in the city of mandalay. at least 50 people have been killed since the military seized power last month. the head of the catholic church is called for tolerance during a historic trip. pope francis is the first pontiff to visit iraq, which has

one of the oldest christian communities, and it has been dwindling because of conflict and persecution. the battle over extending federal jobless benefits in the u.s. is delaying president joe biden's coronavirus relief bill in the senate. the $1.9 trillion package would go towards vaccines, emergency payments and help for the unemployment -- unemployed. it passed its first hurdle thursday night. a package of existing relief measures expires in a week. those are the headlines, back with more news here in a half-hour here on al jazeera. next, it is "inside story." do stay with us. ♪ [explosions]

1 the myanmar anti--- anchor: the myanmar anti-coup protests turn deadly, protesters remain undeterred. neither side is backing down. can anything break the stalemate ? this is "inside story." ♪ anchor: hello, welcome to the program. a month of protests against the myanmar military coup shows no signs of letting up. peaceful demonstrations are growing larger in many cities and towns. the army's firing live rounds to disperse them. [gunfire] the united nations says scores of people have been killed since february 1. 38 died wednesday, the worst day. more than 1700 people have been detained. the crackdown has drawn international condemnation.

>> me and mark's -- me yanmar's military must stop, it is important the military is firing live ammunition against protesters. we are appalled on attacks against emergency medical staff trying to provide care to those injured. anchor: scott idler's monitoring the protests from bangkok in neighboring thailand. scott: another day beginning with the funeral for a dead protester, but that didn't stop them from coming out. the second largest city, mandalay, a protest there turned deadly. in the largest city, yang gone, police forces and military throughout townships are using stepped-up tactics we have seen this past week that really so i crackdown on the protesters. in some cases, they are firing tear gas canisters into people's homes, as international pressure

is stepped up. the u.s. is increasing pressure through economic and political means. regional neighbor singapore, the foreign minister saying it was a national shame the junta is using weapons on its own citizens. this came as youtube announced it is taking five channels connected to the military in myanmar off the air because they say they have been spreading misinformation through their channels. anchor: soldiers are using tiktok to issue death threats protesters. a digital rights group found more than 800 such posts over the past month. some armed men have threatened to shoot demonstrators in the head. tiktok says it is removing the videos. let's speak to a protester in yangon. she is anonymous to protect her safety. i know this is risky for you, i want to ask you how bad the

situation is and are you concerned by -- are you concerned violence directed towards protesters is going to get worse? >> i think the situation is pretty bad. i am based in yangon, so i can't say what is happening but i know it is worse in some places, and what is happening in rural spaces as well. the last few days and weeks, we saw an intense crackdown on protesters. and not just protesters, people who are helping protesters as well. there is video of a house, shot being fired into a house for sheltering protesters. there are videos of the military going around streets and taking away people who are just walking around. so it is not just protesters whose life's being threatened. it is also dashers lives are

being threatened. it is also the average person who is just at the wrong place at the wrong time. it is quite bad and i don't know how the situation is going to progress, but we have heard a lot of rumors about the military imposing a national lockdown in yangon for the next 48 hours, and all internet service will be cut off. it is a rumor i have been hearing from people. we have a lot of rumors going on, so there is a lot of psychological warfare going on right now. and this morning, i personally heard military jets flying across, and people have posted sightings of these jets as well. again, there are rumors we could get bombed anytime. we wake up to news of violence and debts every morning and we work up to news of rumors every morning, so we don't know what is going to happen.

anchor: while the crackdown is getting worse, we are also seeing more people take to the streets and we are seeing the civil disobedience movement growing. do you think that in some sense, the fear barrier has been broken and the people are going to continue to come out into the street sent protest and participate in the civil disobedience movement, even if they are threatened with more violence? >> i definitely think the fear barrier has been broken for a lot of us. for example, this morning, people were talking about the bombs that they were laughing and walking arounde are all scared but are still moving on with our lives. i went out this morning, and on the same road where there was a large protest, people a few feet down the street were having tea and selling things. they are moving on. i think the fear barrier has been broken. people are not sitting in their

homes. people are living their own lives, even if they are not protesting, because we are still in a pandemic and have a lot of financial lost independence. so people are living their lives and i think the fear barrier has broken. and i think people are angrier, because the people who have been shot are young, 19, 4 teen, -- 14. they were shut brutally and their are reports that funeral homes have been rated -- have been raided. i think people are more emotional and many are willing to take this fight to the end. as to how they are going to fight or how they're going to help out, that is up to each person and their beliefs but i think a lot of people are moving to see this to the end in every way we can. anchor: this is a largely leaderless movement, many people from different sectors of

society coming together for this movement. do you have specific demands? at what you want to see the international community to? >> because myanmar is a very diverse country with a complicated political history, and not all of us are educated the same way, what people want, -- a lot are asking for democracy and it is time to change the constitution to get rights for everyone. [indiscernible] and people who have remained silent and not talked about the crisis previously are starting to think about this issue.

at their saying, we are sorry for not being as outspoken, we need to do this together, but all this has happened in the span of a month-end a lot of democritus's are kept in the dark -- a lot -- month, and a lot of democratists have a lot of different opinions but people are saying to keep up the solidarity that we have seen in this country. right now, we don't have a governing structure. if somebody needs something, we ask our neighbor and that is really important. but people are also say not to create discussions or talk that would threaten solidarity. so it is a complex situation going on at different people are prioritizing different things, but one thing is for sure, i would say the majority of the country is against the military. and that is a first step.

and secondly, for a federal democracy. i don't know how that is going to be promoted, but i personally have reached a point where i haven't gotten that far yet, adam struggling day-to-day. anchor: thank you again, for taking time to join us. we know what a risk it is for you to speak with us. please stay safe. >> thank you for having me. ♪ anchor: let's bring in our guest from washington dc, the managing director of the u.s. campaign for burma, and the executive director of the myanmar institute of security, and the founding member of the special advisory council for myanmar, and the u.n. special reporter -- special rapporteur. how many people up and coming out into the streets of myanmar

despite the violence? the movement seems to be growing. >> i am surprised that the continuing number of people showing up on the streets. i have to say, i strongly am respectful of all those people who are sacrificing their livelihoods and their lives to come out and voice their voice, that we will not live under the military junta. anchor: what happens next? from your perspective, is the military only going to resort to more violence in coming days and weeks and months? >> is very likely. what we have seen is the major movement of troops from february 26. so that is assigned the regime is reinforcing its security apparatus in many cities to

initiate the crackdown. we first saw the first day of the crackdown nationwide february 28, and the following days. but so far, the last two days were for to quiet, even though we have -- last two days were pretty quiet, even though we have stories of security forces coming into the protest area. the intensity of violence was much lower than what we had seen the previous day. but at this point, the regime is testing the waters and trying to see how people are going to respond, and it is likely that they are going to use force in coming days to crack it down. anchor: myra, we have seen the military changing tactics and resorting to more violence, also the security forces. are protesters going to have to

start changing their tactics in order to break the stalemate, in order to try and prevail? >> thank you for the question. one way or the other, they will be trying whatever possibility they have. they are very smart people, they come up with all kinds of new ideas every single day. i am so amazed by their courage and their boldness. and i have strong faith they will come up with all kinds of ideas. it was so amazing to see that they are not fighting back with weapons, but using sarong skirts that males in burma used to be scared of. they literally have to go up onto the roof and take those

down. so i am pretty sure they will have other ways in the coming days, and i am really looking forward to their new ideas. and i support them from afar, and i only hope and wish that they are safe. anchor: you and other experts on the situation in myanmar have set up a new group called the special advisory council of myanmar, a group that is supposed to provide an international platform for civil society organizations, activists and others in myanmar, how are you going to do that? >> we are going to be inviting civil society activists send defenders to voice their wishes and express their views throughout -- throughout. -- through us.

yesterday at our first press conference, we had a member from cdn express what they were going through and what their wishes were. and we also had a connection with the protest inside, so this is what we plan to do. we are also going to plan to provide briefing notes and analysis of the situation said that the international community will be informed in their decision-making, and tried to push the international community to make decisions, and timely decisions. and that is what we plan to do at the moment with our newfound counsel. anchor: is there any indication that the regime is willing to reverse what they have done? or is there any indication there are any fissures within the ranks of the security forces,

the police or the military? >> no. we haven't seen any signs the regime's indicating any signal to reverse course. for a few reasons. one is that most of the government apparatus is located in an area that is pretty much removed from the other parts of the country where the protesters are. the regime is at least fashionable there. the other thing is that so far, the units which have been taking the crackdown, and all the other military units, have to be loyal to the regime, which is critical for the regime's survival. and we have seen on social

media, there are a lot of posts, especially on tiktok, by the police and the military, taunting the protesters, taunting the protesters. that is assigned these people tend to be quite progressive -- -- quite repressive. in the immediate time, we don't see a change of course for now. anchor: myra, one of the more interesting things we have seen as a result of the coup and disobedience movement is that we have seen alliances forged between groups, especially ethnic minorities that maybe wouldn't normally have these alliances. how is that impacting what is going on? and how will it impact on things -- how will it impact things on the ground going forward? >> well, certainly this is a

very wake up call moment for many of our friends and colleagues who may have never heard of other ethnic minorities and their struggles. and this is a moment where we are coming together as essentially citizens, and this is a very positive sign, because we get to learn from each other. and one of the most important things is to fight against our one common enemy, and the most important thing is the unity that we brought together is very important to continue keeping it up. and i do have a strong feeling that from here on, i am not naive for saying this, but there will be other ways that will be dividing us, because they have

been using the divide and rule policy for so long that we don't know what is going on with each other. but i wanted to remind all of us at this moment that this is the truth we have to learn, and coexist together. we are talking about the democratic country of burma and federalism, and this is a moment where we have to start to work together to support each other for the country. and it will only get better, but before that, it is going to be a struggle. anchor: the un security council he said to meet once more about the situatio in myanmar, but time and again, we have seen the council get together and because of russia and china's veto power, no substantive action is taken against myanmar and the military there. i want to ask if there is any way around that tow power, to do something that would impact the situation on the ground?

and how frustrating must it be for you, as someone who raised the alarm for so many years about atrocities committed by myanmar's military against people in myanmar, that still no action has been taken? >> well, it has been frustrating for me during my mandate. and today, i hope the security council will do a better job than it has done in the past. i hope that russia and china will rise up to the situation and really demonstrate that they can be active participants, concerned stakeholders in the international forum. china says that they will not tolerate, they will not accept instability in their neighboring country, and china has to show what they can do because china

has the most leverage in dealing with it. so i think this is the time where two things must be recognized by the security council -- that now the actions are of a terrorist group. they are using snipers, tear gas, bombs, and killing people from the back, shooting through the head. we have had two deaths by children, 14 and 16, shot in the head. the second thing the security council will really have to recognize is the fact that the actions -- i called for were crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in relation to the states. but this time, i am calling on the security council to recognize it as crimes against humanity for all the people, and

strongly refer this military junta to the icc once and for all. anchor: let me follow-up quickly about one point you were making with regards to atrocities committed. one thing i noticed on twitter is this outpouring by many in myanmar, who are taking to twitter and other platforms, saying they unaware of what happened to the rohingya and other ethnic minorities, and they are apologizing for the brutality the military engaged in. what does that say to you about the moment we are witnessing in myanmar? >> this is a crisis for myanmar, but i think it can turn into an opportunity were peoples from different races and religions can come to unity, harmonize, and live side-by-side.

i have seen many people apologize to me for how they treated to me. but, that is because it is a result of the 50-plus years of the military propaganda against the rohingya, that these are enemies of the state almost, and that they are illegal migrants. but it literally paused down to, these are enemies of the state. it was 50, 60 years of propaganda instilled on the entire people of myanmar. and anybody who stood up for the rights of the rohingya was also an enemy of the state. but now the people are beginning to realize that the enemy of the state was the coup leaders, not anybody else. anchor: how much impact our strikes by public servants having in myanmar? >> there are two types, the

hardest industry has been the private sector. and the government apparatus said this is pretty much based in one area. we haven't seen a significant shutdown of the ministry, except in the public health and education sectors. the other sector for example, labor and immigration, they have over 200,000 staff, and we saw only about 1000 staff because the regime has pretty much tight control over civil servants. however, the banking industry, if they revive the banking industries, the economic collapse could be inevitable in coming weeks. anchor: thank you so much to all

of our guests. and thank you for watching. you can see this and all our previous episodes by visiting our website, aljazeera.com. you can also join us on twitter. our handle is aj inside story. and you can join our facebook page. ♪