wisdom to be upon the leaders!!!

Warning shots fired as Myanmar clashes flare again

YANGON - Warning shots were fired as skirmishes broke out at demonstrations in several locations around Yangon on Thursday, while more than 10,000 people faced off against police around the Sule Pagoda, witnesses said.

Security forces clashed with protesters in at least three locations in eastern Yangon, after hundreds of people rushed to protect monks who were being hauled away, they said.

Only about five Buddhist monks were seen in the middle of the crowd, which was singing the national anthem and chanting slogans about independence hero General Aung San, the father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

'General Aung San would never order the military to kill the people,' they shouted.

In what appeared to be an attempt to stifle fresh demonstrations by preventing monks from reaching central Yangon, at least six truckloads of Buddhist clergy were seen being driven from their monasteries, they said.

The witnesses said there were hundreds of demonstrators in each location and that police had threatened to open fire if they failed to disperse.

The biggest flare-up was at the central market in the outlying township of Iankin.
In the city centre, the focus of a bloody crackdown on Wednesday that left at least four people dead and 100 injured, protesters returned to streets surrounding the iconic Sule Pagoda.

Songs of protest

Clapping their hands and singing the national anthem, they faced off against some 50 armed police and soldiers who blocked their path, witnesses said.

The 5,000-strong crowd also chanted: 'May we be free of all dangers, may we be free of poverty, may there be peace in hearts and minds.' Security forces have sealed off the Sule Pagoda, a key rallying point in recent anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks.

Security was tight around the nation's commercial hub Yangon, with plainclothes police and militia patrolling the streets.

Soldiers had also sealed off the Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's most important shrine, and military trucks were seen riding through the city.

Most shops and businesses had closed their doors after security forces used batons, warning shots and tear gas Wednesday to try to break up protesters who regrouped and carried on with their rallies throughout the day.

More bloodshed feared

Facing the most serious challenge to its authority since 1988, the junta admitted one man was killed and three wounded when soldiers fired warning shots and tear gas at crowds on Wednesday.

Protest leaders said at least five monks were killed as soldiers and riot police tried to disperse the biggest crowds in a month of marches against grinding poverty.

'We would like to call on the student monks to keep on struggling peacefully,' one said on the BBC Burmese service. 'Five monks have sacrificed their lives for our religion.'

Some witnesses said as many as 100,000 people packed the former capital Yangon on Wednesday as the streets echoed with deafening roars of anger at the use of violence against monks.

Overnight, police arrested two senior members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the party's spokesman said. Two opposition politicians from other parties were also detained.

China says 'no' to sanctions

The international outrage at Wednesday's use of warning shots, tear gas and baton charges against monks and unarmed civilians was loud by any standards.

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a 'tragedy' and urged the generals to allow a UN envoy to visit and meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

'The regime has reacted brutally to people who were simply protesting peacefully,' Dr Rice said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said he would dispatch special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to South-east Asia in hope the hope that the generals would let him in.

However, in a sign of rifts within the international community at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, China ruled out sanctions or an official condemnation of the use of force.

History suggests the junta will not be moved by threats from France and Britain - former imperial powers - that leaders would be held responsible for bloodshed. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the 'age of impunity' was over.

The United States and the 27-nation European Union called on the generals to start a dialogue with pro-democracy leaders, including Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, and ethnic minority groups.

Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial nations agreed on a similar formula but without a call for sanctions, in deference to Russia.

Participants said Dr Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country has sided with China in blocking UN moves against Myanmar, clashed over the sanctions issue.

Washington and Paris called on China to use its influence to convince the junta to stop the crackdown.

Diplomats say China has privately been speaking with the Myanmar generals to convey international concern, but Beijing has so far refrained from any public criticism. -- REUTERS, AFP

Source: StraitsTimes.com