The dramatic photo and video of a Catholic nun kneeling infront of Myanmar police pleading to spare the life of some children and an end to violence has been circulating in social media platforms Facebook and Instagram for the last two days.
Sr. Ann Rose Nu Tawng has been seen wearing her white and black habit with arms spread as if on a crucifix but begging on her knees on the streets of Myitkyina, northern Myanmar to stop shooting the children and instead offers them to take her life.
A member of the St. Francis Xavier Congregation, the 45-year-old Tawng said to UCA News that she was working in a clinic run by the church when she saw on the street military personnel attacking on protesters who carried home made shields and wore hard hats. She then went outside the clinic and ran outside to confront the police with the conviction to "give my life for the Church, for the people, and for the nation."
"I thought today is the day I will die. I decided to die," she said in an interview with Sky News.
Tawng then knelt down and, in separate interviews with the The Guardian and Reuters, told the police she begged them "not to shoot and torture the children" and "not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly like family members".
"I told them that they can kill me, I am not standing up until they give their promise that they will not brutally crack down on protesters.," Tawng told Reuters.
VIDEO | A nun who went viral in Myanmar during a protest knelt again in front of police officers on March 8 in an attempt to prevent them from shooting the protesters against the military coup. "There's no one to protect the people," says Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng. pic.twitter.com/b9nCaONScl
"” EWTN News (@EWTNews) March 10, 2021
The Christian Post said Tawng was assured by senior officers that they were only clearing the road yet gunfire was immediately heard afterwards and two of the protesters were killed in front of her while several others were injured.
"We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid's head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street. The children panicked and ran to the front," she narrated, "I couldn't do anything but I was praying for God to save and help the children."
According to Reuters, the nun tried to bring to the church clinic some victims but she was blinded by tear gas. The clinic floor then "became a sea of blood" and it made her "feel so sad" because "we need to value life."
A week after the military staged a coup that detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi together with 24 high-ranking officials on February 1, Christians in Myanmar have already called out to fellow Christians around the world for prayers in the face of hopelessness they face. Christians then became the target of the military who on February 28 started arresting seminary students and pastors.
The series of violence escalated on March 3 when the military staged a string of shootings across various cities of Myanmar that lead to the "bloodiest day" ever in the country as it caused the death of more than 38 people.
Terrorist attacks have now been reported to take place in Myanmar targeting a number of religious and ethnic groups whose basic human rights are denied. The Myanmar Christians have called the international community for help in their fight for freedom from the military locally known as the "Tatmadaw," who are opressing the ethnic minorities Kachin Christians along with Christian and Muslim Rohingya.
