Burma Troops Kill 5 Including Monks
The scene on the streets of Rangoon, Burma on Sept 26 as riot police and soldiers use batons and teargas to beat back monks and laymen from entering Yangons holiest shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda, in a crackdown on a week-long barefoot rebellion in Burma.
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Injured monks and layman treat themselves after Burma's military junta cracks down on peaceful demonstrators on Wednesday. Soldiers used batons and tear gas to disperse the monk-led protesters in Rangoon.//dvb.no
Junta's crackdown on protesters kills 5
At least five people, including monks, were killed when Burma troops used batons, tear gas and bullets on Wedensday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and layman protesters out of Rangoon's holiest shrines in a standoff between rifles and rust-coloured robes.
Deutsche Press Agentur quoted an ex-high level government official that police and soldiers at barricades beat monks and laymen back from the east gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda with batons and tear gas twice, leaving at least five people dead, including monks, a former high-level government official said.
At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.
Monks have used the Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon's most revered temple, as a launch pad for their peaceful anti-government marches for the past nine days. The show of force, however, failed to stop the monks from marching elsewhere.
About 10,000 monks wove their way through Rangoon's streets Wednesday afternoon, heading for the Sule Pagoda, where they were pushed back by more troops armed with shields and batons, witnesses said.
Soldiers stationed at City Hall, across from the Sule Pagoda, reportedly fired on the crowd at one point, claiming unknown casualties.
A newly arrived tourist said shots rang out for about 30 seconds as a crowd of thousands of people, mostly laymen, moved toward a barricade about 100 metres from the roundabout where the pagoda stands.
Protesters ran in panic down side streets. Some fell and were trampled by those following them. Fear showed in their faces.
"I'm going home," one monk said.
The tourist said a 26-year-old student warned her: "You shouldn't go any farther. They are animals," referring to the soldiers.
Burma's military, after issuing several warnings to the monks for the past two days, deployed its troops for the first time in nine days of protest marches in Rangoon.
At least 12 trucks, each carrying about 40 police and soldiers, were dispatched Tuesday night to City Hall after tens of thousands of monks defied a government order to end their protest marches and return to their temples.
Dozens of military trucks and jeeps were seen parked outside the City Hall compound as police and military personnel guarded the four gates of the Sule Pagoda, which sits in the centre of a traffic circle in front of City Hall.
The pagoda in the centre of downtown Rangoon has been where the monks have congregated, joined by thousands of laymen, over the past four days in a show of defiance against Burma's military junta.
The marching monks appeared determined to take to the streets again Wednesday despite signs that a confrontation was looming.
"We are even ready to die," one Rangoon temple abbot told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
As protestors massed near Sule Pagoda, military vehicles drove by on a cross street, eliciting fear each time among parts of the crowd. But demonstrators also responded by booing the trucks and calling for the mass of people to stand their ground, prompting the crowd to once again inch forward until the next military column raced by.
The protests began to disperse about 4 pm as the monks returned to their monasteries.
Various human rights groups and crisis-management organisations have called on Burma's allies such as China, India and South-East Asian nations to intervene to prevent a bloodbath in Rangoon.
"The Burmese military has shown in the past a willingness to kill peaceful protestors to end demonstrations," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "If the military government is going to listen to anyone, it will be countries with which it has close military and economic ties. Now is the time for these countries to show that they care about the health and welfare of the Burmese people."
Rangoon's barefoot rebellion, which started September 18, drew up to 100,000 followers Monday and Tuesday.
But signs early Wednesday indicated that the junta was preparing to spill blood as it did in September 1988 when the army unleashed its fury on mass pro-democracy demonstrations, killing up to 3,000 people, including hundreds of protesting monks.
Around midnight, the government announced via public loudspeakers that a 60-day curfew had been imposed in the city from 9 pm to 5 am.
Rangoon General Hospital had been instructed to clear wards in preparation for an influx of patients, hospital sources said.
In 1988, Burma was rocked by nationwide rallies against the military regime's incompetent rule, which had dragged the country down from one of the wealthiest in Asia prior to World War II to an economic basket case by 1987.
Economic hardships are partly behind the latest protests.
Without warning or consultations, the government more than doubled fuel prices on August 15, exacerbating overnight the plight of Burma's impoverished people. The country has suffered double-digit inflation since 2006.
Despite the hardships, a cafe operator near Sule Pagoda expressed doubt about whether the protesters would continue for much longer. "They don't have the heart for it," he said. "They have been suppressed for 20 years."
Anti-inflation protests started building on August 19 in Rangoon, led by former student activists and opposition politicians. Last week, the movement was taken up by the monks.
Burma's 400,000-member Buddhist monkhood has a long history of political activism in Burma, having played a pivotal role in the independence struggle against Great Britain in 1947 and the anti- military demonstrations of 1988.
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