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| Southeast Asia | |
| Locals die defending monks | |
| 2007-10-05 | |
| TO the handful of monks remaining at Ngwe Kya Yan monastery - scared and in shock - it must have seemed that everything was over. Soldiers and police made the first swoop in the early hours, cracking skulls, firing rubber bullets and dragging away more than 70 monks to secret detention centres. Those who escaped returned at daybreak to their smashed monastery, the blood of their brothers glistening on the stone of the courtyard. By late afternoon, soldiers and police returned to finish the job. But then something remarkable happened: thousands of men, women and children emerged from the surrounding houses of South Okkalopa township, converged on the streets leading to the monastery and trapped the soldiers and police inside. For more than six hours, the unarmed crowd prevented security forces from taking the monks away - until they were dispersed in a battle in which police reportedly shot dead two people. It was a scene repeated at monasteries and pagodas across Rangoon. At nearby Kyaik Ka San, Moe Kaung and Mahar Bawdi, locals defended monks with their lives. Their attempts appear to have been unsuccessful, but the risks they took demonstrate the depth of affection for the monks and loathing for the junta. "People knew that they had no weapons, no strength at all against the armed military," a local said. "But still they can raise their voices to demand the safety of the monks."
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| Posted by:Fred |