EU provided crowd control training to Myanmar police units: Guardian report

The European Union provided crowd control training to specialist Myanmar police units which were allegedly involved in the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, according to a report published by The Guardian.

However, EU has claimed that it shared defensive techniques only due to concerns about possible human rights abuses, the report adds.

European police have been working with their counterparts in Myanmar to develop a manual of crowd control techniques as part of a wider EU support scheme called "Mypol". The project, initiated in 2012, provided training and equipment to help modernise Myanmar's military-controlled police force along the lines of "international best practice and respect for human rights".

It was suspended by the EU last week after the Myanmar military staged a coup that has triggered the largest protest movement in the country in more than a decade.

Specialist crowd control units which received EU training have been involved in policing the protests and have been among those accused of using excessive force against demonstrators including firing water cannons, rubber bullets and live ammunition, reads the report by The Guardian.

A member of one of these specialist crowd control units is thought to be the officer pictured in images circulating on social media aiming his weapon at demonstrators during a protest in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Tuesday, The Guardian adds. A young woman was shot in the head during that protest, though it has not been confirmed that the officer in the pictures fired that bullet.