Protests in Myanmar brought fewer people to the streets
by Corina Ciubotaru
Protests in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, continued today and so did the crackdown, even though less people turned up in the capital Yangon and large cities like Mandalay. Yesterday, 9 more people were killed by the junta, the country's military regime, while dozens of others were injured, beaten and arrested. The military has begun arresting monks from monasteries believed to support the opposition forces like the National Democratic Party, whose main figure Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for years now, while other prominent members have taken refuge in neighboring Thailand. Some monasteries have been sealed off by the army, who only began to shoot at the protesters three days ago, when they entered into a restricted area surrounding a monastery. Myanmar's government has been urged to take peaceful action against the protesters and open negotiations while its most influential neighbor and friend, China, was asked to try and convince them democracy might be for the best. As next year's Olympics grow nearer, China has now realized that bloodshed in this country could damage the Games' overall appearance. The U.S. however took action against Burmese officials, establishing a permanent visa ban against the generals and their families, while the U.N. Security Council discussed the problem and decided not to intervene forcefully. It was decided the matter belongs to "internal affairs" and that the problem would best be resolved by the ASEAN, an economic group of Southeast Asian countries to which isolated Myanmar is one of the 10 members.
related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_re_as/myanmar;_ylt=AhuVUqLU7duAk90dfvY.TASs0NUE
by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv) |
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