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Myanmar on Mar 27, 2021 shows an annual parade put on by the military to mark Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw - Bangkok post

Myanmar's security forces shot and killed at least 16 protesters on Saturday, news reports and witnesses said, as the leader of the ruling junta said the military will protect the people and strive for democracy.

"Today is a day of shame for the armed forces," Dr. Sasa, a spokesman for CRPH, an anti-junta group set up by deposed lawmakers, told an online forum.

"The military generals are celebrating Armed Forces Day after they just killed more than 300 innocent civilians," he said, giving an estimate of the toll since protests first erupted weeks ago.

At least four people were killed when security forces opened fire at a crowd protesting outside a police station in Yangon's Dala suburb in the early hours of Saturday, Myanmar Now reported. At least 10 people were wounded, the news portal said.

Three people, including a young man who plays in a local under-21 football team, were shot and killed in a protest in the Insein district of the city, a neighbour told Reuters. Four people were killed in Lashio town in the east, and four in separate incidents in the Bago region, near Yangon, according to media outlets. One person was killed in Hopin town in the northeast.

The country has been in turmoil since the generals ousted and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, triggering a major uprising demanding a return to democracy.

Violent morning crackdowns by security forces thwarted some plans for fresh protests that had been called in some cities to coincide with the parade in the capital Naypyidaw.

As troops carried torches and flags while marching alongside army vehicles, junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing again defended the coup and pledged to yield power after new elections.

But he also issued another threat to the anti-coup movement that has gripped the country since he took charge, warning that acts of "terrorism which can be harmful to state tranquility and security" were unacceptable.

"The democracy we desire would be an undisciplined one if they pay no respect to and violate the law," he said.

Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II, usually accompanies a military parade attended by foreign officers and diplomats.

But the junta has struggled to achieve international recognition since taking control of Myanmar and said that only eight international delegations attended Saturday's event, including China and Russia.

Russia's deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin attended the parade, having met senior junta leaders a day earlier. 

"Russia is a true friend," Min Aung Hlaing said.

Fears have swirled that the day could become a flashpoint for more unrest.

Security forces cracked down on demonstrators in commercial hub Yangon before dawn, while police and troops opened fire on a rally by university students in the northeastern city of Lashio.

"The army and the police just came and shot them. They did not give any warning to protesters and they used real bullets," local journalist Mai Kaung Saing told AFP.

But protesters elsewhere returned to the streets, including in the second-largest city Mandalay, where crowds carried Aung San Suu Kyi's party flag and flashed the three-finger salute that has been adopted as a symbol of resistance to military rule//CNA