Yangon, Sep 27 (DPA) Thousands of people gathered in downtown Yangon Thursday to protest the Myanmar regime’s crackdown on Buddhist monks, that has left hundreds arrested and injured, while villagers attacked an army truck in a township.
An estimated 10,000 laymen converged on a block north of Sule Pagoda, a flashpoint for the past 10 days of protests, where they shouted catcalls and clapped their hands in a show of contempt for the government troops around the temple.
Although barricades set up by the army had been dismantled on Pagoda Road Thursday morning, fully armed police and soldiers lined up on the pavements and were posted in the pagoda, eyewitnesses said.
Meanwhile, 1,000 villagers in South Okkalapa township on the outskirts of Yangon attacked an army truck, pelting the soldiers on board with stones until they shot 10 tear gas canisters into the mob to make a getaway.
The villagers were reportedly outraged that the military had raided the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery Thursday morning, arresting monks and leaving its revered abbot severely beaten.
“There are people willing to shoot and people willing to die,” said one Western diplomat of the looming showdown in Yangon.
Most monks stayed away from the protest Thursday, amid reports that authorities had raided several monasteries at around 2 a.m. Thursday, arresting up to 100 monks.
Security personnel raided the Moe Kaung monastery in Yankin Township and Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastery in South Okkalapa township and took away monks in their trucks, covering them with tarpaulin canvas sheets.
Eyewitnesses said the monks were beaten and dragged out of their monasteries screaming. Bloodstains were visible in many of the monks’ quarters.
The ruling junta cracked down Wednesday on monk-led marches that started small on Sep 18 and peaked Monday with an estimated 100,000 participants.
On Wednesday riot police and soldiers beat back monks and their laymen followers with batons and tear gas from the Shwedagon Pagoda and fired warning shots at the mob around the Sule Pagoda.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper claimed that the clash was sparked by protesters throwing stones at the security officers.
“On account of the unavoidable circumstances, the members of the security forces fired some shots employing the least force to disperse the mob,” claimed the government mouthpiece.
It claimed one civilian was killed in the melee and two others wounded. Other sources said at least five people, including monks, died on Wednesday and more than 100 were injured.
Barricades and troops were in place Thursday morning at key sites in Yangon, including the Shwedagon Pagoda and Bogyoke Street, two of the main rallying spots for the past nine days of protests in the city.
Roadblocks had been removed from the Pagoda Road that leads to Sule Pagoda, but the temple was heavily guarded.
Myanmar’s monks, said to number 400,000, have a long history of political activism. The monkhood played a pivotal role in Myanmar’s independence struggle from Britain in 1947 and the anti-military demonstrations of 1988 that ended in bloodshed.