By Syed Zarir Hussain
Moreh (Myanmar-India border), Sep 27 (IANS) Five people have been killed in Myanmar’s continuing crackdown on protesting monks, which saw riot police with guns and shields raiding two monasteries in Yangon early Thursday and arresting about 70 to 80 monks, exiled Myanmarese leaders said here.
“We heard that Myint Thein, the spokesperson for Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party National League for Democracy, and another former member of parliament Hla Pe, were arrested early Thursday by police,” Kyaw Than, president of the All Burmese Students’ League, told IANS at this town in the northeastern state of Manipur.
“Several of the monks were beaten as they were shoved into police vehicles with witnesses telling us that there was blood splattered on the floor,” he added.
According to information reaching the exiles here, four people, including three Buddhist monks, have been killed in violent clashes between protesting monks and the military junta in Myanmar on Wednesday, taking the toll to five.
“The death toll has now risen to five with four monks and a civilian succumbing to their injuries overnight, besides about 50 people wounded, 17 of them seriously in hospitals,” Than said.
There is no independent confirmation of the casualties. The Myanmar government has claimed that only one person died and two were injured.
Than is among 2,500 Myanmar nationals who fled to India after the military rulers cracked down on pro-democracy leaders in 1988. He is now based in Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
Soldiers wielding automatic weapons and batons Wednesday charged thousands of Buddhist monks in the Myanmar capital Yangon when the monks took to the streets protesting a fuel price rise in the country.
The demonstrations have grown from several hundred people protesting the price rise in mid-August to as many as 100,000 Sunday, led by tens of thousands of monks in the largest and most sustained antigovernment protests since 1988.
“Let us prepare ourselves for more sacrifice to get our democratic rights back. We have already spilled blood and we are determined not to be cowed down by the brutal force of the military junta,” a statement made available to IANS by Thawduzana, an influential body of the monks in Yangon, said.
The military junta Wednesday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Yangon and the other main city of Mandalay to stop more anti-government demonstrations.
Loudspeaker announcements in Yangon said the curfew would run from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. They also said that the city was now under direct control of Yangon’s military commander for 60 days.
“Several more monasteries in the country were being raided although information is being restricted with the authorities jamming Internet connections, telephones, and even blocking blogs,” said Tura, another exiled leader of the All Burma Student Democratic League based in Imphal.
Hundreds of exiled Myanmarese were planning a rally Oct 2 – the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi – in New Delhi to highlight the turmoil in their country.
“The rally would be to drum up international support and also to seek India’s help for direct intervention to resolve the impasse,” Than said.
The pro-democracy movement in 1988 was crushed by the junta with an estimated 3,000 people killed. The military junta then captured power by arresting dissidents and banning political opposition with force.
“Time has now come for the international community and Buddhists across the world to support the people in Myanmar,” Than said.
DPA adds from Yangon that barricades and troops were in place Thursday morning at key sites in Yangon, including the Shwedagon and Sule pagodas and Bogyoke Street, the main rallying spots for the past nine days of monk-led protests in the city.
It was still unclear Thursday morning whether the monks would take to the streets for a tenth day. Past protests have started about noon, after the monks have taken food and started their midday fast.
There have been reports of similar monk-led protests taking place in other Myanmar cities such as Mandalay and Sittwe.
Myanmar’s monks, said to number 400,000, have a long history of political activism. The monks played a pivotal role in Myanmar’s independence struggle from Britain in 1947 and the anti-military demonstrations of 1988, which ended in bloodshed.