Myanmar teenager Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing was supposed to be celebrating her 20th birthday on Thursday.
Instead, she is fighting for her life in a hospital in the capital Naypyitaw after she was shot in the head when police cracked down on a protest against the military coup.
Myanmar’s army seized power on Feb. 1 and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a long transition towards democracy and bringing tens of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets.
The shooting of the teenager – the first known serious casualty of the protests – has roused anger across the nation and rallied support for the anti-coup movement, many of whose members are part of a Generation Z who say they refuse to allow another generation to experience military rule.
Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, a 19-year-old grocery store worker, had traveled with her sisters from a nearby village to Naypyitaw, the army-built capital in the center of the country, for a protest on Tuesday. It was one of dozens in towns…