Angel, also known as Kyal Sin, was shot in the head and killed in the city of Mandalay on Wednesday while wearing a shirt bearing the message "Everything will be OK".

Mourners, many of them young like her, on Thursday filed past her open coffin and sang protest songs, raised a three-fingered salute of defiance and chanted slogans against the February 1 military coup that has plunged the country into turmoil.

Angel was one of 38 people killed on Wednesday, according to a United Nations tally. A spokesman for the junta did not respond to a request for comment on the killings.

Sai Tun, 32, who attended the funeral, said he could not come to terms with what had happened to her.

"We feel so angry about their inhuman behaviour and really sad at the same time," he told Reuters by telephone.

"We'll fight dictatorship until the end. We must prevail."

Despite the slogan on her shirt, Angel was aware of the risk as she headed out to the protest, posting details of her blood group, a contact number and a request to donate her body in the event of her death.

The phrase on the shirt quickly went viral on social media among opponents of the coup.

Dozens of people have been killed as the military struggles to impose its authority, in particular on a generation that has grown up in recent years under a government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.

Australian Associated Press