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| Southeast Asia | |
| Myanmar crowds taunt troops, violence draws outrage | |
| 2007-09-29 | |
Potentially deadly games of cat and mouse went on for hours around the barbed-wire barriers in a city terrified of a repeat of 1988, when the army killed an estimated 3,000 people in crushing an uprising in the former Burma. Few Buddhist monks were among the crowds, unlike in previous days, after soldiers ransacked 10 monasteries on Thursday and carted off hundreds inside. When the troops charged, the protesters vanished into narrow side streets, only to emerge elsewhere to renew their abuse until darkness fell and an overnight curfew took effect. "F--- you, army. We only want democracy," some yelled in English. "May the people who beat monks be struck down by lightning," others chanted in Burmese. Despite the visceral anger in their voices, far fewer protesters turned out in Yangon than earlier in the week, when they had walked alongside thousands of maroon-robed monks. Shots were fired on Friday but there was no word of more casualties a day after troops swept protesters from the center of Yangon, giving them 10 minutes to leave or be shot. Troops fired on several crowds on Thursday and state-run television said nine people were killed. | |
| Posted by:Fred |