Burma Shame

Myanmar Protests Turn Violent As Security Forces Shoot Monks

In this photo released by the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area, Buddhist monk and Myanmar people run past a motorcycle that was burned in Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday September 26, 2007. Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas canisters while hauling militant Buddhist monks away in trucks Wednesday as they tried to stop anti-government demonstrations in defiance of a ban on assembly. (AP Photo/ National League for Democracy-Liberated Area)

Violent Crackdown Launched in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar — The government said its security forces opened fire Wednesday on demonstrators who failed to disperse, killing one person, and witnesses said police beat and dragged away dozens of Buddhist monks in the most violent crackdown in a month of protests in Myanmar.

While dissident groups reported as many as five dead, including monks, the military junta's announcement on state radio and television was the first acknowledgment that force has been used to suppress the protests and the first admission that blood had been shed.

Responding to calls by world leaders, the U.N. Security Council will hold closed consultations on Myanmar later Wednesday. The session will be briefed by Ibrahim Gambari, the secretary-general's special envoy on Myanmar, said U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe.

The dissidents also said about 300 monks and activists were arrested, although that number could not be independently confirmed.

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via: HuffPo