Burmese Junta Rounds Up 200 Monks in Midnight Raids

Protesters warned to go home or risk being shot
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2007 5:03 AM CDT
Burmese Junta Rounds Up 200 Monks in Midnight Raids
Anti-Myanmar government demonstrators, holding photographs of Aung San Suu Kyi, gather outside the Myanmar embassy Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, in Bangkok, Thailand, to shout slogans and protest the recent crackdown against Buddhist monks. Myanmar security forces raided tow Buddhist monasteries early...   (Associated Press)

The Burmese military junta has once again opened fire on pro-democracy protesters in Rangoon and rounded up hundreds of monks in midnight raids on monasteries, the Guardian reports. It was not immediately known if anyone was injured. As many as 200 police officers and soldiers later marched through the streets with loudspeakers warning anyone who didn't leave that they risked being shot, according to Reuters.

Barricades topped with barbed wire and fire trucks and water cannons  have been staked along the demonstrators' route, according to witnesses.Some 200 monks were seized in raids on as many as six monasteries. Several monks escaped by jumping out of windows and others were beaten as they resisted arrest. (More Burma protest stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X