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| Southeast Asia |
| Violent crackdown launched in Myanmar |
| 2007-09-26 |
| YANGON, Myanmar - Security forces shot and wounded three people, and beat and dragged away dozens of Buddhist monks Wednesday in the most violent crackdown against the protests that began last month, witnesses said. About 300 monks and activists were arrested, dissidents said. Reports from exiled Myanmar journalists and activists in Thailand said security forces had shot and killed as many as five people in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon. Witnesses in Yangon known to the AP said they had seen two women and one young man with gunshot wounds in the chaotic confrontations. The reports could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. The U.N. Security Council will meet later Wednesday to discuss Myanmar, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told French reporters. Zin Linn, information minister for the Washington-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which is Myanmar's self-styled government-in-exile, said at least five monks were killed, while an organization of exiled political activists in Thailand, the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area said three monks had been confirmed dead, and about 17 wounded. Exiled Myanmar media reported similar figures, citing witnesses. A Norway-based dissident radio station, the Democratic Voice of Burma, said that one monk was killed and several injured in clashes in downtown Yangon. The security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to try to disperse the crowds of demonstrators while hauling away defiant Buddhist monks into waiting trucks — the first mass arrests since protests in this military dictatorship erupted Aug. 19. About 300 monks and activists were arrested across Yangon after braving government orders to stay home, according to an exile dissident group, and reporters saw a number of cinnamon-robed monks, who are highly revered in Myanmar, being dragged into military trucks. The junta had banned all public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew following eight days of anti-government marches led by monks across the country in the largest protests in nearly 20 years. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #3 Only a most eggshell-fragile regime could view Buddhist monks as a threat. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-26 23:08 |
| #2 Gosh, peaceful protestors versus authoritarian thugs...refresh my mind as to who usually wins in these situations again? |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-09-26 12:52 |
| #1 The Myanmaran Army ... Very courageous! .. Attack a bunch of unarmed bald guys waring orange schmocks ... Such valor! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-09-26 12:31 |