Burmese 'casualties' as troops open fire

FE Team | Published: September 27, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Dominic Faulder in Bangkok and Harvey Morris at the United Nations
FT Syndication Service
Burmese troops Wednesday cracked down on the biggest protests against military rule in 20 years, sealing off the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, firing warning shots and tear gas, and arresting up to 200 monks.
Security forces fired shots into the air above a large crowd near the Sule Pagoda in central Rangoon.
One person was killed and five wounded, a hospital source told Reuters, adding that all six people had gunshot wounds.
Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis and urged the world body to send an envoy to Burma.
Despite a ban on assemblies of more than five people, a procession of 10,000 Buddhist monks and civilians marched towards the Sule Pagoda, the end-point of a week of peaceful protests, news agencies reported, citing witnesses.
However, the number of monks was well below levels last Monday and Tuesday when they stretched five city blocks.
Witnesses and monks said some of the monks were beaten and manhandled by riot police as they were taken away from Shwedagon Pagoda, the starting point of more than a week of major protests against Burma's ruling military junta.
About 300 monks and activists were arrested across Rangoon, according to an exile dissident group, a news agency reported.
In Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city, more than 800 demonstrators played a cat-and-mouse game with some 100 soldiers who tried to stop them marching from the Mahamuni Paya Pagoda.
In an earlier sign of a crackdown, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last Sunday was moved from house arrest to the notorious Insein prison, news agency, Reuters, reported, citing a well-placed source.