Myanmar Government cracks down on Buddhist Protesters

[AlethiaSi]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Internatio...ory?id=3658216

Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government protesters Thursday as tens of thousands defied the ruling military junta's crackdown with a 10th straight day of demonstrations.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press that several people, including a Japanese national, were found dead following Thursday's protests.

The information was transmitted by Myanmar's Foreign Ministry to the Japanese Embassy in Yangon, the official said on condition of anonymity citing protocol.
The chaos came a day after the government launched a crackdown in Yangon that it said killed at least one man. Dissidents outside Myanmar reported receiving news of up to eight deaths Wednesday.
Some reports said the dead included Buddhist monks, who are widely revered in Myanmar, and the emergence of such martyrs could stoke public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.
As part of the crackdown, monasteries were raided overnight by pro-junta forces in which monks were reportedly beaten and more than 100 were arrested.
The monks have spearheaded the largest challenge to the military junta in the isolated Southeast Asian nation since a failed uprising in 1988. In that crisis, soldiers shot into crowds of peaceful demonstrators, killing some 3,000 people.
Witnesses told the AP that five men were arrested and severely beaten Thursday after soldiers fired into a crowd near a bridge across the Pazundaung River on the east side of downtown Yangon.
Shots were fired after several thousand protesters on the west side of the river ignored orders to disband.

45 year timeline, Reuters.com

thoughts??

[RU OX Alum]

i think this is awful

[AlethiaSi]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

i think this is awful

I agree!! it is terrible... I heard about this all week on NPR and it makes me so sad.

[DeltAlum]

Sounds like that government is being run by the ghosts of Richard Daley and James Rhodes.

Many (most) of you won't understand what that means.

[Sugar08]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Sounds like that government is being run by the ghosts of Richard Daley and James Rhodes.

Many (most) of you won't understand what that means.

I'd be very disappointed if only a few people got that reference.

[AlethiaSi]

Originally Posted by Sugar08

I'd be very disappointed if only a few people got that reference.

I don't know what that means.... I even did a google search i sorry.

[AlethiaSi]

YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers clubbed activists in the streets and fired warning shots Friday, moving decisively to break up demonstrations in Myanmar before they could gain momentum. Troops occupied Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access, raising concerns that the crackdown on civilians that has killed at least 10 people was set to intensify.

Troops also fired tear gas to break up a demonstration of about 2,000 people in the largest city, Yangon, witnesses said. Five protesters were seen being dragged into a truck and driven away. The clash in an area near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic — though smaller — protests that were reported.
By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations and are revered by most of their Myanmar countrymen. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.
Efforts to squelch the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in.
Security forces first moved against the anti-government protesters on Wednesday, when the first of the 10 deaths was reported. Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end the violence.
The United States imposed new sanctions on the junta's leaders, and the United Nations dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive Saturday.
Earlier Friday, soldiers and riot police moved quickly to disperse a crowd of 300 that started marching in Yangon, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.
Bob Davis, Australia's ambassador to Myanmar, said he had heard unconfirmed reports that "several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities" may have been killed by troops in Yangon. Scores have been arrested, carted away in trucks at night or pummeled with batons in recent days, witnesses and diplomats said, with the junta ignoring all international appeals for restraint.
"The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.
"It's tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well behaved."
British Ambassador Mark Canning told BBC-TV that "there have been a lot of arrests," with up to 50 people detained at one time.
Video emerged of a striking image — the shooting death Thursday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News.
The Democratic Voice of Burma released video of security forces opening fire on protesters, including a man falling forward after apparently being shot at point-blank range, and the opposition shortwave radio station based in Norway said the victim was Nagai, 50.
Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed "revulsion" at the violence in Myanmar and told the junta "to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution." Demonstrations against the junta were seen in Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere.
But by Myanmar standards, the crackdown has so far been muted, in part because the regime knows that killing monks could trigger a maelstrom of fury.

the rest of it here

[Sugar08]

Originally Posted by AlethiaSi

I don't know what that means.... I even did a google search i sorry.

I'll give you a pass since you're at least keeping up with TODAY's news.

Mayor Daley - Chicago, 1968

Jim Rhodes - Kent State, 1970

[AlethiaSi]

Originally Posted by Sugar08

I'll give you a pass since you're at least keeping up with TODAY's news.

Mayor Daley - Chicago, 1968

Jim Rhodes - Kent State, 1970

Thank you