Several protesters were shot dead by police overnight and on Saturday at rallies against the military and its crackdown on opposition.

More than 70 people have died in unrest since the army seized power last month.

The people of Myanmar are in mourning.

He joined as a volunteer guard every night.

I asked him to take a rest as he was sick, but I couldn't stop him, he said.

He needs to take care of people because the military were attacking them with heavy weapons.

Then they shot and killed him.

He can't fight back anymore.

Soldiers shot at us during our sit in last night and arrested three people.

They beat them.

A group of us went to the police station to request their release.

Then they fired live rounds at us.

One died over there and another one died here.

Still, an air of defiance prevails even in the face of mounting funerals.

Yeah, people are determined to keep up the pressure.

Thousands rallied in Mandalay, many of them teachers and university students.

Uh huh.

But moments later police dispersed the peaceful protest with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Yeah, amid the escalation of police brutality, injuries like these are becoming commonplace.

What health care workers and volunteers raised to bring them out of the line of fire.

Witness footage from Friday in Yangon shows police beating three men accused of breaking a nighttime curfew.

They were dragged from their homes and beaten with sticks on the street in the distance the sound of gunfire that I'm going attesting to another episode of violence in the city.

And David, who's an activist from Mandalay, joins us now.

We won't be using his full name to protect his identity.

Thank you for joining us.

You were at a demonstration earlier.

Can you please describe to us what happened?

What you saw David, can you hear me?

Yeah.

Hi, David.

Could you please tell us what you saw and experienced at the demonstration that you were at earlier?

I was very close to the protest, and as we were peacefully sitting and chanting our verses, the security force were more like, um, armed terrorists raiding a city.

It's very It was very coordinated and systematic.

The way they came.

They didn't come to us to disperse the crowd.

They came to us.

They came to kill.

You know, as soon as they got to near our protest area, they raided a six story building and two snipers get on the roof and they started shooting random people.

And right in front of my eyes, I could count up to 20 people were shot directly by the snipers.

It was really a heartbreaking moment.

And, uh, and moreover, they used less and less tear gas and more and more live ammunition.

And it was something really, really close to a battleground.

And they violate every single aspect of human rights.

David, this is some incredible incredible brutality that you are describing to us.

Tell me what it's like when you're in that situation.

I mean, people must be terrified on the streets.

Yeah, we We were, um at first we didn't, uh, think it would be this severe.

So we were still staying in form and and backing off quite slowly.

And then, uh, right at the edge of the our group, a civilian was shot in the head.

At that moment, we knew that there's a sniper and everybody started to move quite quickly.

and the police became really chaotic, and the military took advantage of the situation.

And they took their time and and and shut down, You know, everyone they pleases.

And it was more like a video game for them.

They were just aiming at the head and shooting on and on and on.

And I had to run.

I had to look after the women, right, the right beside me and behind me and and had to flee as far away as possible.

And still, And it was There were also hundreds of students who were also trapped, and and they also had to manage really hard to get out.

And still, hundreds of students were captured and they were taken through, um uh, taken to a prison.

David, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us.

It must be extraordinary times.

And obviously you're all showing incredible bravery.

So thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.