YANGON • Ms Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing was a teenage grocery store worker in Myanmar's sparse and isolated capital until less than two weeks ago, when a gunshot turned her into a national symbol of resistance.

The death of the anti-coup protester has sent a ripple of grief through the country, days after a bullet struck her in the head during a confrontation with police.

She had joined a massive rally in Naypyidaw demanding the release and return to power of the country's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Police dispersed the protest with rubber bullets.

But Ms Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing was one of two people critically wounded by live rounds.

Her family marked her 20th birthday two days later, while she lay unconscious on an intensive care hospital bed.

Hospital staff confirmed that she died shortly before midday on Friday, 10 days after she was shot.

She is the first confirmed death from the anti-coup movement since the military seized power on Feb 1.

Graphic video had circulated online of the long-haired teenager falling to the ground and onlookers scrambling to give her first aid.

Amnesty International said it had verified footage of the incident and that "police recklessly targeted protesters, with no respect for their lives or safety whatsoever".

Immediately after the shooting, Ms Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing became a household name across Myanmar and a rallying point for a civil disobedience campaign against the new military regime.

On Friday, residents in Yangon left flowers and messages outside a high court in tribute to her, with a black-and-white portrait of the young woman surrounded by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy flags.

"Blood should not be the currency for freedom," said posters strewn around the makeshift memorial.

Another said simply: "You will be remembered."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE