Rangoon: riot police attack monks

Six monks are feared dead as Burma’s junta takes on protestors. edward loxton reports

Heavily armed Burmese troops and riot police launched their feared crackdown on protesting monks in Rangoon this morning, killing at least six in clashes throughout the city. About 300 monks and other demonstrators were beaten and thrown into army trucks.

The regime had brought in two battle-scarred divisions from the frontline in Karen State to lead the assault on the 5,000 monks and their supporters massed in the city today. The monks had been warned that if they continued their demonstrations troops and riot police would use force to suppress them.

Clashes first broke out at Rangoon's revered Shwedagon Pagoda, where tear gas was used to break up isolated groups of monks. Troops sealed off the pagoda and streets leading to the site. Thousands then massed in the centre of the city, and barriers

At Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda, tear gas was used to break up groups of monks

were set up on some streets. Troops at first fired over the demonstrators' heads but later aimed directly into groups of monks, injuring dozens. At least six of the wounded monks were later reported to have died in hospital.

As night fell, a calm descended on the city with the onset of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, but the demonstrations were expected to continue tomorrow.

A report that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - under house arrest for 11 years - had been moved from her lakeside home to the notorious Insein Prison could not be confirmed because security authorities have sealed off the house.

Leading members of Burma's opposition movement, including the country's most popular comedian, Zarganar, were arrested in night-time raids across Rangoon. The regime had issued a stern warning to the country's writers, actors and intellectual community not to participate in the protest demonstrations.

Burma is closed to foreign reporters. Edward Loxton is reporting for The First Post from Chiang Mai in neighbouring Thailand, talking to eyewitnesses in Rangoon by telephone.

FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2007