By Marielle Lucenio, LiCAS.news
Myitkyina: The courage of a Catholic nun in Myanmar caught the attention of people around the world when a photo of her kneeling before armed policemen became viral on social media.
“Please don’t shoot, please don’t. They are innocent civilians,” cried Sister Rose Lasang Nu Tawng of the Diocese of Myitkyina when policemen and soldiers aimed guns at protesters on February 28.
It was an unusually busy Sunday morning for Sister Rose, who runs a clinic with other nuns of the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state in northern Myanmar.
The clinic is usually closed on Sundays, but all other hospitals were closed since the military took over the government of Myanmar in a coup on February 1.
With the growing number of poor patients needing medical attention, Sister Rose invited Catholic health workers and friends to help in the church-run clinic.
“I saw people, mainly protesters, in the street in front of our clinic,” Sister Rose recalled what happened that Sunday morning.
Then she saw police and military vehicles bearing water cannons approaching a group young Catholics who were gathered outside the clinic.
A loud explosion erupted even before the nuns could react to the approaching vehicles.
“We were all shocked and we ran away,” Sister Rose recalled.
“We tried to help keep the people from the police,” she said, adding that the clinic opened its doors to the protesters.
Pandemonium ensued, armed men went after the people, some protesters were beaten and arrested, hundreds fled into the clinic compound.
“I was crying out loudly, and I tried to get back the people who were taken by the police. I tried to intervene, and the police beat me,” she said.
“Probably, I looked like a fool that time,” Sister Rose said smiling as she recalled how she stood outside the door of the clinic with her arms stretched to prevent the policemen from going after the people.
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