Troops, Riot Police Storm Rangoon Monasteries
By The Irrawaddy September 27, 2007
Regime forces launched a post-midnight assault on several Rangoon monasteries on Thursday, beating and arresting around 700 monks, in what appears to be a move to break the backbone of resistance to government oppression.
At least three monasteries were stormed under gunfire by troops and riot police, killing one monk and injuring many others. Only monastery sick-bay patients were left alone as the monks were beaten, kicked and forced out of the monasteries and into waiting vehicles. It was not known where they were taken.
In South Okkalapa Township, one center of resistance in the 1988 popular uprising, tens of thousands of angry residents besieged security forces guarding Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery. The monastery was broken into by troops and riot police during the night and around 200 monks beaten and arrested.
“The troops are deploying themselves as if for action,” an eyewitness told The Irrawaddy.
An army truck broke down the main gate of Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery and warning shots were fired as the monks were rounded up, a local welfare worker told The Irrawaddy.
"The whole compound of the monastery is chaotic. Windows were smashed, bullet casings littered the ground, and blood stained the concrete floor," he said.
Five hundred monks were arrested after security forces broke forcibly into Mogaung monastery in Yankin Township, one eyewitness said.
Some who avoided arrest returned after daybreak, bleeding from wounds to their shaven heads. A few said they had got away by climbing into trees around the monastery.
Maggin monastery in western Rangoon, where HIV patients are cared for was also raided. Witnesses said that soldiers and riot police stormed in, beating up and hauling away four monks, including the abbot and four people caring for HIV patients. Burma’s monasteries are hotbeds of the pro-democracy movement. The current raids seem to be in an apparent attempt to prevent further demonstrations, which have been spearheaded by the Buddhist monks.
The security forces fired at protesters for the first time on Wednesday in street protests that have grown over the past month into the biggest demonstrations against Burma's military rulers since 1988.
After midnight, security forces also arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, party sources said. An executive of her National League for Democracy, Hla Pe, and a former member of parliament from the Chin ethnic minority, Cin Sian Thang, were also arrested, according to the sources.
The violent raids on the monasteries and the mishandling of the monks add fuel to public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.
The official version of Wednesday’s events said security forces opened fire after a crowd that included what it called "so-called monks" refused to disperse at the Sule Pagoda and tried to grab weapons from officers. It said police used "minimum force."
In 1990, the ruling military government also launched a violent crackdown on monks in the central city of Mandalay after they had held a boycott of members of the military regime and their families. The military regime responded by forcibly seizing monasteries around the country and arresting hundreds of monks.
Monks who participated in the boycott were defrocked. Many were imprisoned and some were tortured.
By The Irrawaddy September 27, 2007
Regime forces launched a post-midnight assault on several Rangoon monasteries on Thursday, beating and arresting around 700 monks, in what appears to be a move to break the backbone of resistance to government oppression.
At least three monasteries were stormed under gunfire by troops and riot police, killing one monk and injuring many others. Only monastery sick-bay patients were left alone as the monks were beaten, kicked and forced out of the monasteries and into waiting vehicles. It was not known where they were taken.
In South Okkalapa Township, one center of resistance in the 1988 popular uprising, tens of thousands of angry residents besieged security forces guarding Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery. The monastery was broken into by troops and riot police during the night and around 200 monks beaten and arrested.
“The troops are deploying themselves as if for action,” an eyewitness told The Irrawaddy.
An army truck broke down the main gate of Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery and warning shots were fired as the monks were rounded up, a local welfare worker told The Irrawaddy.
"The whole compound of the monastery is chaotic. Windows were smashed, bullet casings littered the ground, and blood stained the concrete floor," he said.
Five hundred monks were arrested after security forces broke forcibly into Mogaung monastery in Yankin Township, one eyewitness said.
Some who avoided arrest returned after daybreak, bleeding from wounds to their shaven heads. A few said they had got away by climbing into trees around the monastery.
Maggin monastery in western Rangoon, where HIV patients are cared for was also raided. Witnesses said that soldiers and riot police stormed in, beating up and hauling away four monks, including the abbot and four people caring for HIV patients. Burma’s monasteries are hotbeds of the pro-democracy movement. The current raids seem to be in an apparent attempt to prevent further demonstrations, which have been spearheaded by the Buddhist monks.
The security forces fired at protesters for the first time on Wednesday in street protests that have grown over the past month into the biggest demonstrations against Burma's military rulers since 1988.
After midnight, security forces also arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, party sources said. An executive of her National League for Democracy, Hla Pe, and a former member of parliament from the Chin ethnic minority, Cin Sian Thang, were also arrested, according to the sources.
The violent raids on the monasteries and the mishandling of the monks add fuel to public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.
The official version of Wednesday’s events said security forces opened fire after a crowd that included what it called "so-called monks" refused to disperse at the Sule Pagoda and tried to grab weapons from officers. It said police used "minimum force."
In 1990, the ruling military government also launched a violent crackdown on monks in the central city of Mandalay after they had held a boycott of members of the military regime and their families. The military regime responded by forcibly seizing monasteries around the country and arresting hundreds of monks.
Monks who participated in the boycott were defrocked. Many were imprisoned and some were tortured.
No comments:
Post a Comment