Streets empty as Myanmar troops out in force
Posted: 28 September 2007 1414 hrs

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	Related News • ASEAN ministers hold talks with Condoleezza Rice • Japan to keep aid to Myanmar despite killing of Japanese journalist • UN confirms its envoy to be allowed in Myanmar • ASEAN calls on Myanmar to stop using violence on protesters Special Report • Myanmar in Turmoil

YANGON: Myanmar's police and military were out in force again on Friday, patrolling the deserted streets after a two-day crackdown on mass protests left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more behind bars.

The bloodshed triggered international condemnation of the country's ruling generals, who unleashed security forces on demonstrators to put down the biggest wave of public dissent in the Southeast Asian nation for 20 years.

A Japanese journalist was among those found dead on Thursday as security forces raided monasteries, beat protesters and carried unknown numbers of people, including many of the country's revered Buddhist monks, off to prison.

But the crackdown failed to stamp out the protests, as an estimated 50,000 people still swarmed into the streets, sometimes fighting pitched battles with police and pelting them with stones.

The streets of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, were mostly empty on Friday and it was not immediately clear if demonstrators would again gather to protest more than 40 years of military rule as well as growing economic hardship.

All roads leading to Yangon's main pagodas, which have been the focal points of the unrest in this devoutly Buddhist nation, were sealed off with barbed wire and barricades.

Armed soldiers, police and plainclothes officers patrolled Yangon on Friday morning as large military trucks rumbled through the streets. Most businesses were closed as many companies told workers not to come in.

Hundreds of monks who helped lead the protests were taken to jail on Thursday, and British diplomatic sources said there was evidence some had been badly beaten when their monasteries were raided.

The monks galvanised public opinion here, turning what had been a series of small-scale local marches launched after a hike in fuel prices last month into a mass national movement that has put Myanmar in the international spotlight.

The generals, who run one of the most secretive and isolated nations in the world, moved on Thursday to stay out of that spotlight and keep reports of the violence and bloodshed from reaching the outside world.

People found with cameras and cellphones – rare pieces of equipment in this impoverished nation – were beaten and their equipment was smashed.

The images of blood stains on the floors of monasteries and protesters fleeing from armed soldiers in the streets have stiffened international criticism of the junta, which has ruled the nation since 1962.

US President George W. Bush called on China, Myanmar's main ally and chief trading partner, to press the generals to end the crackdown.

During a brief meeting at the White House with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday, Bush asked China to "use its influence in the region to help bring a peaceful transition to democracy", spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

At the United Nations, meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued an unusually critical statement on Myanmar, an ASEAN member which has repeatedly embarrassed the 10-nation bloc.

They expressed their "revulsion" to the use of force against the demonstrators, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

"They were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators," he said.

When the last major uprising against the regime happened, in 1988, there was no Internet to quickly transmit images of the events around the world. Security forces at the time killed at least 3,000 people.

Four people, including three monks, were killed on the first day of the current crackdown on Wednesday.

On Thursday, nine people were killed, including Japanese national Kenji Nagai, 50, a journalist for Tokyo-based APF News.

Witnesses said the other eight were shot when soldiers appeared to panic after being pelted with stones from protesters.

State media reported on Thursday night that nine people were dead and 11 protesters had been injured.

"The protesters threw bricks, sticks and knives at the security forces, so because of the desperate situation the security forces had to fire warning shots," it said, adding 31 police and soldiers were also wounded.


- AFP/so