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YANGON - Warning shots were fired by soldiers above a new wave of protesters in downtown Yangon last night, with an estimated 70,000 anti-government demonstrators braving a crackdown that has drawn international appeals for restraint by Myanmar's ruling junta.
Witnesses said at least one man had been shot, though the weapons fire did not appear to be aimed directly at the crowd that had gathered at Sule Pagoda. Tear gas was fired into the crowds.
Protesters shouted at the soldiers, angry about early morning raids by security forces on Buddhist monasteries. Soldiers reportedly beat up and arrested more than 100 monks, who have spearheaded the largest challenge to the junta since a failed uprising in Myanmar in 1988.
More then 200 soldiers and police marched through the streets with loudspeakers, ordering people to go home or risk being shot. The soldiers advanced up the street away from the pagoda, with their rifles at their sides. Police banged their rattan riot shields with batons.
Tensions mounted elsewhere when truckloads of pro-junta thugs arrived at the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery about 8km north of downtown Yangon.
About 250 men carrying bamboo poles and truncheons surrounded the monastery compound. Riot police fired tear gas at a crowd of some 1500 supporters of the monks.
The Government acknowledged that at least one man was killed and others wounded in chaotic clashes in Yangon early yesterday. Dissidents outside Myanmar reported receiving news of up to eight deaths.
Protesters have been demanding more democratic freedoms, the release of political activists and economic reforms in the impoverished nation.
Myanmar's state-run newspaper blamed "saboteurs inside and outside the nation" for causing the protests in Yangon, and said the demonstrations were much smaller than the media are reporting. "Saboteurs from inside and outside the nation and some foreign radio stations, who are jealous of national peace and development, have been making instigative acts through lies to cause internal instability and civil commotion," said the New Light of Myanmar.
In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, about 50 monks confronted soldiers when they tried to block the Buddhist clergy from marching out of a monastery.
Security forces arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, family members said.
The United States and the European Union issued a joint statement decrying the assault on peaceful demonstrators and calling on the junta to open talks with democracy activists, including Suu Kyi.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who was sending a special envoy to the region, urged the junta "to exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations taking place, as such action can only undermine the prospects for peace, prosperity and stability in Myanmar".
An Asian diplomat said that Suu Kyi remained at her Yangon residence where she has been detained for 12 years. Rumours had circulated that she had been taken away to Yangon's notorious Insein Prison.
The diplomat said that junta had deployed more security forces around Suu Kyi's house and on the road leading to her residential compound and that more than 100 soldiers were now inside the compound.
Several other monasteries that are considered hotbeds of the pro-democracy movement were raided by security forces before dawn local time in an apparent attempt to prevent the demonstrations spearheaded by the Buddhist clergy.
A monk at Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery pointed to bloodstains on the concrete floor and said a number of monks were beaten and at least 100 of its 150 monks taken away in vehicles. Shots were fired in the air during the chaotic raid, he said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"Soldiers slammed the monastery gate with the car, breaking the lock and forcing it into the monastery," said the monk, who did not give his name for fear of reprisals.
"They smashed the doors down, broke windows and furniture. When monks resisted, they shot at the monks and used tear gas and beat up the monks and dragged into trucks."
Empty bullet shells, broken doors, furniture and glass peppered the bloodstained, concrete floor of the monastery. A female lay disciple said a number of monks were also arrested at the Moe Gaung monastery, which was being guarded by soldiers. Both monasteries are located in Yangon's northern suburbs.
- Reuters, AP
