Troops Take Back Control in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Soldiers and police took control of the streets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar's mi
litary junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access.
On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups of activists to be chased around by security forces.
"Bloodbath again! Bloodbath again!" a Yangon resident yelled while watching soldiers break up one march by shooting into air, firing tear gas and beating people with clubs.
Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the clergymen isolated.
The United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was heading to the country to promote a political solution and could arrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
While some analysts thought negotiations an unlikely prospect, the diplomat said the junta's decision to let Gambari in "means they may see a role for him and the United Nations in mediating dialogue with the opposition and its leaders."
Read rest of the AP article here.
theteach
3 comments:
FIND THE FUNDERS OF THE JUNTA.....
There is a way to pressure the junta...but NO ONE...no media outlet has expressed it but one..list the names of the companies doing business with the junta, identify the "individuals", and shine intense world media light on them...harass them paparrazzi style and ask them if they would consider not funding xyz business in Burma because of what's going on...I guarantee when the money that the generals are counting on runs out from companies from Singapore, Japan, China, India, and other friendly countries and companies, they will alter their behavior significantly...stop the hyprocrisy that UN, US sanctions “alone”..will work...or government official "denunciations" will work...until the "money men" and the money regimes are called into account...the junta goes it's merry way killing with impunity...GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY..meaning public and private individuals must act...
Thank you for the post. Makes me feel that I better get more educated about this matter in the sense that If it is true that the Chinese government is supporting the military junta, then I think I better consider refraining from buying goods made in China untill something is done about the situation. The internet was nowhere near as prevalent when the Tinanmen Sq situation errupted in 1989, and since then, the Chinese beurocracy has become far more addicted to economic growth and the material wealth such growth has brought to their own coffers . Which makes me think that we might be able to scare the Chinese government into behaving more responsibly even just by talking about organizing a massive, wordwide boycott of goods made in China all over the internet. The internet is a great tool to launch such a movement of civil disobedience based on consumer choice, consumer power, and moral accountability of buyers in the globalized economy.
Thanks very much bookbagwarrior and anon, your heartfelt thoughts are noted!
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