At least two protesters were killed and several others injured, she and other witnesses said.
A military spokesman and police in Myitkyina did not respond to requests for comment.
Tawng tried to bring some of the victims to the clinic before she was blinded by tear gas.
“Our clinic floor became a sea of blood,” she said. “We need to value life. It made me feel so sad.”
The nun had also come between protesters and police lines late last month, pleading for peace, local media reported.
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More than 60 people have been killed and more than 1800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the February 1 military coup, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group has said.
A policeman who fled to India and has now spoken out, said he had orders to shoot at protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in the town of Khampat on February 27, but refused.
Tha Peng said that, according to police rules, protesters should either be stopped by rubber bullets or shot below the knees. Reuters could not verify police policies.
He was given orders by his superiors to “shoot till they are dead,” he added.
“The next day, an officer called to ask me if I will shoot,” he said. The 27-year-old refused again, and then resigned from the force.
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He said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and travelled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before crossing into India’s north-eastern Mizoram state.
“I had no choice,” Tha Peng told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday, speaking via a translator. He gave only part of his name to protect his identity. Reuters saw his police and national ID cards which confirmed the name.
Tha Peng said he and six colleagues all disobeyed the order on that day from a superior officer, whom he did not name. His story could not be verified but the description of events was similar to that given to police in Mizoram on March 1 by another police lance corporal and three constables who crossed into India, according to a classified internal police document seen by Reuters.
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“As the civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum and protest(s) held by anti-coup protesters at different places we are instructed to shoot at the protesters,” they said in a joint statement to Mizoram police.
“In such a scenario, we don’t have the guts to shoot at our own people who are peaceful demonstrators,” they said.
Myanmar’s military junta, which deposed the civilian government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi after detaining her, did not respond to a request for comment.
A senior Indian official said about 100 people from Myanmar, mostly policemen and their families, have crossed over a porous border into India since the protests began.
Reuters
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