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Police crackdown in Myanmar claims first victims

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters dispersed in Yangon after six hours of marches yesterday in which at least four people were killed in a crackdown by security forces, witnesses said.

The protests, which included thousands of monks, spread through the city and were met by soldiers and riot police who responded with tear gas and warning shots fired over the crowd, witnesses said.

Based on witness accounts compiled from around Yangon, as many as 100,000 people took to the streets, with civilians far outnumbering the Buddhist monks who have spearheaded the movement.

The protesters took to the streets in defiance of a ban on gatherings and stern threats from the junta.

At least four people, including three Buddhist monks, were killed and five wounded -- all by gunshot -- in the crackdown by soldiers and police, Myanmar officials and hospital sources said. Hundreds of protesters were also reportedly beaten with batons.

Troops fired shots over the heads of a large crowd in central Yangon, sending people scurrying for cover as the crackdown intensified, a witness said.

The civilian crowd near the Sule Pagoda, end point of monk-led protest marches this week, was awaiting the arrival of a procession of an estimated 10,000 Buddhist monks and civilians, the witness said.

Security forces also fired tear gas at columns of monks trying to push their way through barricades sealing off the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest Buddhist shrine and the starting point of the mass marches against decades of military rule.

As many as 200 monks were arrested outside the gilded shrine at the heart of the former Burma's main city, monks said.

Despite the presence at key locations of police and soldiers armed with rifles, batons and shields, the procession of 10,000 monks and civilians marched towards the Sule Pagoda, witnesses said.

Their numbers swelled as they headed toward the temple, scene of some of the worst bloodshed when troops opened fire on protesters in 1988, killing an estimated 3,000 in the ruthless crushing of the last major uprising.

Many of the monks wore surgical masks to try to counteract the effects of tear gas, one witness said.

Witnesses and monks said some of the deeply revered Buddhist clergy were beaten and manhandled by riot police as they were taken away from the Shwedagon, action which could inflame public anger against the military, which has been in charge since 1962.

The international community has urged the junta to use restraint amid fears of a repeat of the 1988 bloodshed, a watershed moment in the Southeast Asian nation's post-colonial history.

The UN Security Council was to meet yesterday over deadly clashes in Myanmar, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

The meeting was to take place at 3pm, said Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council.

"We decided to call a meeting of the Security Council," Kouchner said, adding that the emergency meeting had been decided at the request of European members of the 15-member council.

Also see story:
Myanmar protests will end in bloodshed or a new optimism

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