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Several
killed, curfew in effect, country isolated from the outside world in reaction
to peaceful protests
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Burma's ruling junta went into action Wednesday, arresting and shooting
demonstrators at two of the country's holiest shrines and sealing the
country off from the outside world as marchers attempted to walk from Shwedagon
Pagoda to Sule Pagoda in Rangoon. At least seven were reported killed, although
the figure could not be confirmed independently.
The ruling junta slapped a nighttime curfew on Rangoon on Wednesday and
declared the entire city a military "restricted" area, after days of
mass street protests driven by tens of thousands of Buddhist monks. About 50 monks were arrested and taken away as
troops assailed hundreds of demonstrators, beating them and using tear
gas on them, according to reports from the scene.
The violent onslaught sent
citizens fleeing in panic and provoked howls of anger as soldiers dispersed crowds.
After holding back as the peaceful
nationwide protests led by Burma's barefoot monks swelled in numbers, the junta’s soldiers stormed
the crowds Wednesday in clashes, wielding guns and batons as to break up a march
of about 10,000 citizens and monks who were heading to Sule Pagoda, the
end-point for the largest anti-junta protests since the junta used mass
killings to quash a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Citing sources at a Rangoon hospital, Reuters
reported that one person died of a gunshot wound and five others were also shot
and were undergoing treatment. Monks and other people were beaten and
hauled into waiting trucks, agencies reported.
It was also
reported the Internet access to the country was being disabled and that steps were
taken to limit the use of mobile telephones. Outsiders have been relying on bloggers
and others inside the repressive country to provide a steady stream of information
since the protests began. It is notoriously difficult for journalists to enter the
country.
Marchers chanting Buddhist prayers defied an order that
restricted gatherings in Rangoon
to no more than five people. Monks urged people to protect stand back and allow the clerics to absorb
the brunt of the struggle. On Tuesday night, the first
in which the military enforced a curfew, security forces snatched more than a
dozen student activists and popular figures, including comedians, poets and
actors, from their homes.
Many Burmese expected Wednesday's
crackdown, as the protests that began last month when authorities increased
fuel prices quickly escalated after junta forces used violence against monks.
As thousands hit the streets, the military faced a dilemma: crack down on the
monks and risk an escalation of the conflict, or do nothing and make average
citizens more confident to join the marches.
"For the Burmese, the use of force is
not surprising," said Khin Ohmar, head of the Asia-Pacific People's
Partnership for Burma,
an umbrella group of NGOs. "It was just a matter of time. Living under
this regime, people know what to expect."
Khin Omar, who said a girl was shot and
wounded on the corner of 34th
street and Mahabandoola Road in Rangoon,
called on countries around the world to speak out.
"We really need the international
community to take immediate action against the regime," she said.
"People will continue to defy the orders and take on the violence. Hopefully
the international community won't just sit at the UN General Assembly while
another killing field takes place."
The junta, headed by General Than Shwe, is despised
by its people and deplored by much of the world. Its lifeline appears to
be solid economic ties with China and India. China has
encouraged "national reconciliation" but said little else.
"The response by the Chinese Foreign
Ministry was lame and unconstructive," said Dave Mathieson, a Burma
consultant with Human Rights Watch. "The support the Chinese are giving to
the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] is just selfish so they can
maintain access to raw materials and trade."
The US
and Britain
reacted strongly against the regime. On Tuesday, US President George W. Bush
announced that the US would
tighten sanctions against Burma.
After reports of shooting surfaced on
Wednesday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a meeting of the UN Security
Council.
"The whole issue of sanctions is going
to take on a new dimension," Brown said, according to the BBC. "I
hope the whole world will make its views known and will make the Burmese regime
realize it is not only unacceptable, but they will be held to account in the
eyes of the whole world."
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on
Wednesday released a letter from a prominent abbot at an urban monastery in Rangoon addressed to Than
Shwe that calls on the military regime "to restore the people's power to
its original owner."
U
Thangara Linkara, abbot of the Dhamma Yeiktha Monastery in Rangoon, wrote: "The root cause is power. Those individuals who temporarily held the
people's power on behalf of the people have prolonged [their hold on power] for
their own purposes for over 60 years. The original owners of power, the people,
have been made innocent victims: more and more repressed and poor and
impoverished. In fact, the people's power should be in the people's hands, so
that people can live comfortably and free from difficulty."
With Wednesday's crackdown, it now becomes a waiting game to see
if Burma’s
unarmed monks and citizens will continue to defy the
regime’s guns. As the junta proved again yesterday, protestors could easily pay
with their lives.
"The bravery of the demonstrators is
astounding because they know just how violently the government can react,"
said Mathieson of Human Rights Watch. "They know that whenever they go out
on the streets they could be shot to death."
Many analysts are wary about speculating on
what will happen next, saying it largely depends on just how much the latest
violent crackdown will deter the citizenry from showing dissent. But regardless
of how many people show up on the streets in the coming days, the root causes
of the discontent remain and will only fester over time.
"There is the possibility the numbers
may drop, but then again thousands still defied the junta today," Khin
Ohmar said. "If the numbers drop, that doesn't mean the movement will be
stopping anytime soon."
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