Quote:'Several dead' as Burma violence escalates

Burmese troops today opened fire on pro-democracy protesters leaving several people dead, as the violent military clampdown escalates.
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Reports that a Japanese photographer was one of those killed emerged after government troops warned protesters to leave the streets or face "extreme action".

Burmese police fire tear gas

Following the ultimatum, witnesses said dozens of protesters were wounded or beaten at several locations in the capital Rangoon.

The Japanese embassy was notified that a Japanese national - believed to have been a photographer - was killed in the clashes. It has sent its officials to a local hospital to confirm the report.

It is feared that the ruling junta may be deliberately targeting foreign journalists as part of a drive to keep news of the clampdown from reaching the outside world.

A British diplomat said at least four people "had been shot quite seriously" on Tarami Street in the city.

He also claimed there was evidence of "severe beating" of monks at the Ngwe Cha Yan monastery.

Large crowds had once again thronged the landmark Sule pagoda this morning, angered by a series of dawn raids on Rangoon's Buddhist monasteries.

But they were confronted by more than 200 troops who fired warning shots before marching from the pagoda shouting orders through loudspeakers.

"We will give 10 minutes," the troops shouted, according to reports. "If you fail to leave, we will take extreme action.

"Everyone on the roads and in the streets, everyone must leave immediately."

Most of the demonstrators scattered or were herded onto military trucks as troops blocked the streets beating batons against their shields.

The ultimatum came after Burmese ally China called on "all parties" to "exercise restraint... to ensure the situation does not escalate."

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman did not condemn the crackdown but said: "Burma's stability should not be affected, neither should peace and stability in the region."

Shoes discarded by Burma protesters
Shoes discarded by protesters after they were charged by troops

There were reports of shots being fired near Rangoon central railway station as well as in South Okkalapa, where tear gas was administered on crowds.

Protesters had congregated for a tenth day of action despite troops detaining around 200 monks and hundreds of their supporters this morning.

The raids targeted the most rebellious of the city's monasteries in a further attempt to quell unrest despite a worldwide diplomatic call for the state to show restraint.

Demonstrations turned ugly yesterday when police used violence to disperse thousands of monks and ordinary citizens marching together for democracy.

People in the crowd applauded when trucks carrying soldiers passed through and shouted "hero!" in mockery.

But men, women and children were sent scrambling for cover seconds later as troops responded with a long burst of automatic gunfire.

By the end of the day, two monks and a civilian were reported to have been killed and dozens injured by soldiers and armed police wielding batons and rifles.

One of the monks was beaten to death with rifle butts, witnesses said. The true death toll may be much higher.

Western leaders called for tough new sanctions on the regime to stop the bloodshed but with Burma's allies Russia and China able to veto any resolution by the United Nations Security Council, the chances of immediate action appear slim.

All day, gunfire crackled over Rangoon and tear gas hung over the city's holiest Buddhist sites. Despite the presence of soldiers outside the main monasteries, tens of thousands of monks and their supporters marched through the city. Tens of thousands more milled about on the crowded pavements offering tacit support.

Similar peaceful protests took place elsewhere in the country including Mandalay and Sittwe.

The Sule Pagoda in Rangoon, the scene of a massacre during similar demonstrations in 1988, was the main focus for yesterday's protests.

Soldiers armed with automatic weapons were lined up along the roads leading to the huge gold dome which sits at an intersection in the city centre. From a nearby rooftop long processions of protesters could be seen approaching from the north.

The red robes of the monks made a broad stripe down the middle of their mostly white-shirted supporters, walking at their side to offer symbolic protection against the bullets. Bystanders bowed down at the monks' feet.

The protesters passed under the noses of the soldiers guarding the pagoda.

A witness described how one monk stood alone in the open space before the troops and persuaded some followers to sit with him on the ground, in open contempt of the guns.

Map of the protest incidents


Others played cat and mouse, dashing from one side of the road to the other across the line of fire.

Later, another large group of protesters approached the pagoda from the south and advanced to within 30 yards of the soldiers.

No one here doubts that a massacre could happen at any moment. But in their anger, and their love for the monks, thousands of people have overcome all fear.

Earlier, men in police uniforms attempted to stifle the protest before it set off, as it has every day, from the Shwedagon Pagoda around noon.

As a column of monks appeared with flags, the security forces with their shields, batons and rifles moved in swiftly to set up a security cordon.

A group of women began wailing and praying. They were almost hysterical in their grief. They said they had seen two adolescent monks shot down just 20 yards away. All that could be seen at the spot were some red robes.

To the mounting distress of the women, the security forces seized a monk with a flag who was acting as a standard bearer and held him as a hostage to protect themselves from the angry crowd behind a flimsy barbed wire barricade.

Several more monks and supporters were bundled into trucks and driven away.

The women sought sanctuary inside a monastery but found that a group of soldiers appeared to have been billeted there overnight.

The men in their green overalls, standing alertly with their rifles in hand, had tears in their eyes too. Apparently they were also distressed by what had happened.

Outside, groups of monks and protesters stood beyond the security cordon singing their mantra: "We spread our love and kindness to everybody."

"Let us live and be without anger or violence," they sang on, and applause broke out.

The soldiers at the barricades levelled their rifles. Soon stones started to be thrown from the crowd at the security forces, who cocked their weapons and fixed their bayonets. Tear gas was fired and the crack of rifle fire rang out.

Like most of yesterday's shooting it appeared to have been directed into the air and the stand-off lasted for many hours. During a lull a man shouted at the troops: "We are all Buddhists! If you kill a monk you will suffer in hell!"

As loud thunder rolled around the cloudy sky, the protesters in the street and the young monks watching over the walls of their monasteries applauded.

There is no doubt that the people who braved the soldiers and their guns will be back on the streets today.

"We strive for our liberation," said one monk.

The Telegraph Sept. 27, 2007

I'm struggling to try and put this into words and i hope it comes out right and I don't sound like an ass.


The problems that are happening in Myanmar may be the best thing that has happened to Thailand's struggle for elections. It can't help but to reinforce the way the military acts in these sorts of situations to the thai people. There's nothing like having violent neighbors to make you wonder about your own safety. You have to wonder what would have happened during the PAD demonstrations if the military was in power and not an elected government.

For those that don't know the situation in Burma is all over the news in North America.

I was watching a report from BKK and they were commenting that Government run TV was not running much if any stories on the problems in Burma. I'll post some links to videos that i hope will work in Thailand. Some of the video may be disturbing to some people.

Monks protesting

Japanese Journalist being shot point blank

BBC News

NBC - let the advert run to see video. it's long but interesting

Burmese troops trap monks

BURMESE troops have occupied key Buddhist monasteries to confine monks who spearheaded protests against 45 years of military rule, raising concerns they may be preparing to intensify a crackdown that has killed at least 10 people.

Security forces fired warning shots and launched baton charges against 10,000 demonstrators in Rangoon yesterday, in the third day of a crackdown on anti-government rallies.

Several warning shots were fired, but there were no immediate signs of injuries among the cheering, chanting crowd of mostly young people and students in the centre of Burma's main city, witnesses said.

A second protest also broke out near a city park, with up to 500 people marching in the street, singing the national anthem, and thousands more clapping from the pavements as they walked by.

At the downtown protest, security forces used loudspeakers to order the crowd to disperse from its position on a road leading to the city's Sule Pagoda, a key rallying point in nearly two weeks of protests.

Monks have led nearly two weeks of mass demonstrations against the ruling junta, but after a series of raids on monasteries and arrests of dozens of monks, there were few, if any, in the crowd yesterday.

"The monks have done their job and now we must carry on with the movement," a student leader told the protesters near Sule Pagoda.

"This is a non-violent mass movement," he shouted as the protesters tried to move towards the pagoda, one of several in the centre that have been cordoned off as part of a suffocating security presence.

In a dangerous game of cat and mouse, they moved as close as possible before being confronted by advancing police and soldiers, only to scatter and regroup to try to advance again.

Police and soldiers have unleashed two days of violent retaliation against the protest movement, using weapons, teargas and baton charges. A Japanese journalist is among the dead, shot in the chest by a soldier.

At least two monasteries were raided on Wednesday night, including one in the northeastern town of South Okkalapa, where about 100 Buddhist monks were arrested and eight people shot dead after protesting the action.

Four more monks were arrested yesterday in a raid on a monastery in North Okkalapa, triggering more skirmishes between their supporters and security forces, witnesses said.

In Thursday's storming of the Ngwekyaryan monastery in South Okkalapa, security forces smashed windows and left behind bloodstained floors that appeared to indicate the monks were beaten during the night-time raid.

Witnesses said as anger swelled in the community, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets near the monastery and began pelting the soldiers with stones.

After 30 minutes of stone-throwing and jeering, the soldiers appeared to panic and started firing automatic weapons to break up the group, they said. Eight people were killed, including a high-school student.

Burma's military rulers declared no-go zones around five key Buddhist monasteries, diplomats said yesterday.

Authorities called in Southeast Asian diplomats on Thursday to inform them of the "danger zones" around five Buddhist shrines, including the key protest sites at the Shwedagon and Sule pagodas in Rangoon, one of the diplomats said.

The diplomat said regime members told the envoys that security forces had the monks "under control" and would now turn their attention to civilian protesters. Given the reverence with which Buddhist clergy are held in Burma, any confrontations with civilian demonstrators might be expected to be tougher.

"I really hate the Government. They arrest the monks while they are sleeping," said a 30-year-old service worker who witnessed the confrontations.

"These monks haven't done anything except meditating and praying and helping people."

There are few foreign journalists in Burma, but people treat them as saviours, encouraging them to get the story and the pictures out.

AFP, AP, The Times