Syed Fattahul Alim
The second day of face-offs between the Myanmar government's security forces and the civilian protestors including Buddhist monks, who are highly revered in that country, has been marked by the death of some nine people on Thursday. The violence of the day before took the lives of monks as well as other civilian protestors. In the recent spate of unrest tens of thousands of people took to the streets to register their protests against the government. The protests first started against fuel price hike. But later it growingly assumed yet larger dimension including pro-democracy elements. Though the Yangon government remained rather soft in the beginning, it could not finally keep its cool as the protest rallies grew bigger in size. What is worse, monks, who are otherwise very peaceful, have now joined ranks of the commoners to protest the excesses committed by Myanmar's three-man military junta with 74 years old General Than Shwe at its head. It is worthwhile to mention here that Myanmar, which was earlier known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.
The country took its firs step towards democracy in 1988 when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.
won a general election in a landslide victory. But in spite of the victory, the army refused to step down and hand over power to the democratically elected parties. They instead kept democracy leader Suu Kyi under house arrest. And she is still under house arrest during this long 19 years. The rumour is rife that after the latest string of bloody demonstrations, the military government of Myanmar has taken Suu Kyi out of her Yangon home into the notorious Insein prison.
Guardian's report hereunder on Thursday's violence gives a more detailed account of the face-off on the streets of Yangon.
'Soldiers fired automatic weapons at protesters in Rangoon today, killing at least nine people in Burma's main city, reports said.
The deaths came as thousands of demonstrators defied an increasingly violent government crackdown on public protests. State media reported that nine people had been killed and a further 11 injured.
A Japanese photojournalist was among the latest confirmed fatalities in the 10 days of confrontation, the Japanese embassy said.
Witnesses said a man had fallen when shots were fired by security forces charging a crowd of 1,000 protesters. Embassy officials said Burmese diplomats had informed them that the photojournalist was one of several people found dead.
The deaths came as troops with loudspeakers told people they had 10 minutes to go home or risk being shot.
Witnesses later told the Associated Press that soldiers fired directly into a crowd near a bridge before arresting and severely beating five men.
Earlier, anti-government protesters squared off against soldiers amid anger at early morning raids on Buddhist monasteries by security forces.
However, Burmese exiles in Thailand said some soldiers had formed a group called the Public Patriotic Army Association to declare their support for the monks and opposition to the military junta.
In a brief statement, made following a secret meeting on Tuesday and obtained by Guardian Unlimited, the group said: "The aim of building up the armed forces should be to protect the people's lives and property and to fight the enemies of the people.
"In this emergency, we encourage you to join the Public Patriotic Army Association and arise to bravely stand alongside the people."
The apparent call to mutiny could not be verified - but, if genuine, will deeply alarm Burma's ruling three-man military junta.
For the time being, however, soldiers seemed to be obeying orders to put down the unrest.
Truckloads of troops appeared to indicate military determination to prevent a 10th consecutive day of pro-democracy protests.
Soldiers advanced up the streets with rifles at their sides, while police banged their rattan riot shields with batons. "It's a terrifying noise," one witness told Reuters.
Barbed wire barricades were erected by the police, with fire trucks and water cannon strategically stationed across Rangoon.
Burmese citizens gathered in front of lines of troops, sitting down in the streets, singing songs, chanting and taunting security forces. The standoff remained peaceful for some time before the soldiers opened fire.
Leaflets urging people to support monks were furtively distributed around the city, but the monks were conspicuous in their absence during the latest demonstrations.
The atmosphere in Rangoon was noticeably tense and quieter than usual as people waited to see whether the protesters would mount a concerted challenge to the authorities despite Wednesday's brutal crackdown.
An Asian diplomat told the Associated Press that the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest at her Rangoon home. Earlier reports said she had been moved to the notorious Insein prison.
Security forces staged dawn raids on at least six monasteries in Rangoon, seizing more than 200 monks and arresting two political leaders from the National League for Democracy, Ms Suu Kyi's opposition party.
Troops smashed doors and windows to break into the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery - a hotbed of the pro-democracy movement - as some young monks escaped through windows.
Senior clergy at the monastery said some monks were beaten when they resisted. As many as 75 of the 150 monks at the monastery were taken away and a number of shots were fired.
At Moe Guang, another monastery in Rangoon's northern suburbs, a number of monks were arrested and were being guarded by soldiers.
Tight cordons of troops and barricades were thrown around the City Hall and the Sule and Shwedagon pagodas - the main focal points of previous protests - to discourage the monks and their supporters gathering for another day.
Prison vans were stationed around the city in a warning that diplomats said represented a considerable escalation of the security that had been seen on previous days.
"Clearly, the military had calculated that seven or eight days of protests needed to be brought to a halt," Mark Canning, Britain's ambassador to Burma, said.
"I would imagine that people [the military] have gone back to the drawing board and concluded that they needed to turn up the measures further. We deplore that and think that sort of violence is going to make matters worse."
Yesterday, security forces fired at protesters for the first time during the demonstrations, which have grown over the past month from small street protests over rising fuel prices into the most serious challenge to military rule since the 1988 uprising.
At least one person was killed and others wounded in clashes in Rangoon.
As the demonstrations turned violent, China - one of the few allies of Burma's reclusive regime - publicly called for restraint.
"As a neighbour, China is extremely concerned about the situation in Myanmar," the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, told a news conference.
"We hope that all parties in the Myanmar issue will maintain restraint and appropriately handle the problems that have currently arisen so they do not become more complicated or expand." She urged the foreign media not to aggravate tensions by "exaggerating and hyping up" the situation. "We do not believe that is responsible," she added.
Her comments followed a meeting between a senior US official, who called on China to use its influence as a neighbour and trade partner of the isolated regime, and Chinese diplomats.
However, China and Russia yesterday opposed UN security council calls for sanctions or condemnation of the Burmese military junta.
The US assistant secretary of state, Christopher Hill, said: "I think all countries need to use all the influence that they have. I think every country has some influence with Burma, and I think China is certainly one of those."
In retrospect
Mark Tran of Guardian gives a deeper look into the genesis of the Myanmar violence that has taken the Yangon government by the storm.
'After days of largely peaceful demonstrations, with tens of thousands taking to the streets, the Burmese military government has begun to take a much harder line.
Troops have started firing automatic weapons directly into crowds of marching protesters in what could be a repeat of the brutal repression of the 1988 uprising, in which 3,000 people were killed.
Protesters have been told by security forces to clear the streets or risk being shot. Curfews have been imposed, and gatherings of more than five people have been banned.
The protests began late last month after the government sharply raised fuel prices - an added hardship for people in one of Asia's poorest and most economically isolated countries.
Arrests and intimidation kept the demonstrations small and scattered until the monks entered the fray. On Sunday, around 20,000 people - including thousands of monks - filled the streets of Rangoon, stepping up their defiance by chanting support for the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The new feature of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar is that the Budhist monks have joined it.
Monks have played an important role in protests, first against British colonialism and later against the military junta, taking a big part in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion.
In the latest protests, monks have formally refused to accept the alms they traditionally take from the military and the regime. In refusing offerings from those they brand "pitiless soldier kings", they are excommunicating them - an act only undertaken in the most compelling moral circumstances, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.
However, the Myanmar government, though initially soft on the protesting crowds of monks and commoners, is gradually losing its patience.
Until the last few days, the government response had been relatively restrained - but it is now cracking down. Police have raided monasteries, arresting hundreds of monks.
Even before events turned violent, the junta arrested a dozen leaders of the so-called 88 Generation Students group and more than 100 others.
Myanmar unrest turns bloodier
FE Team | Published: September 29, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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