A police officer in the Kachin state township of Hpakant says he is sorry for whipping out his revolver, pointing it at village residents and threatening to shoot during a tense community meeting on September 6.
The mea culpa comes after photos and a video of the incident circulated online. He has also been suspended and an investigation is underway.
U Tint Soe, a Lower House MP for Hpakant, reported the update in a Facebook post.
“Deputy Officer Soe Zaw Zaw, who pointed with his gun, apologized in front of officers and responsible persons from the NLD [National League for Democracy].”
“Our government will not accept that he was threatening the public with a gun that he should use to protect people,” he said in the post. “So we’ll take action clearly. And we’ve informed to those in charge and the minister of the state.”
Here’s a video of the encounter. Things start to get heated around the 8-minute mark.
The meeting was held in Lone Khin Group village in Hpakant and was attended by about two-dozen people. The purpose was to select local administrators.
Soe Zaw Zaw became really upset about not being informed of official meetings in the area.
“Who informed me? No one gave me an invitation letter,” he said, according to a translation of that part of the video.
He pointed his revolver at a man in front of him and asked again: “Why didn’t you give it to me?”
Some kept talking while others appealed to him to calm down.
He said that if anyone was attempting to establish a blacklisted organization, he would “shoot you here until you die.”
Fortunately, no shooting occured and no one died, but it doesn’t look like the officer will be invited to any new meetings in the near future.
Contact information for Soe Zaw Zaw was not immediately available.
