The United Nations Human Rights Council is to meet in an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss the unrest in Burma as the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters continued today.
A man taunts Burmese security forces during a demonstration in Rangoon yesterday
Soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations.
The government also cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify. Troops also occupied Buddhist monasteries in a bid to clear the streets of Burma's revered monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations.
The government said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but diplomats say the toll is likely to be much higher. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.
Witnesses said security forces aggressively broke up a rally of about 2,000 people near the Sule Pagoda in the largest city, Yangon. About 20 trucks packed with soldiers arrived and announced over loudspeakers, "We give you 10 minutes to move out from the road. Otherwise we will fire."
A group of about 10 people broke away from the main crowd and rushed toward a line of soldiers. They were beaten up, and five were seen being hauled away in a truck. Soldiers dispersed the other protesters, beating them with clubs and firing shots in the air.
Elsewhere, riot police played cat-and-mouse with smaller groups of die-hard activists, sometimes shooting into the air. The clash near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic, though smaller, protests that were reported.
Protestors gather outside the Foreign & Commonwealth office in London today. Image: Getty.
Earlier today, soldiers and riot police dispersed a crowd of 300, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.
By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of the cinnamon-robed monks. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.
Efforts to quell the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began August 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in.
Security forces first moved against the anti-government protesters on Wednesday, when the first of the 10 deaths was reported. Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta in Burma, also known as Myanmar, to end the violence.
But by Burmese standards, the crackdown has so far been muted, in part because the regime knows that killing monks could trigger a maelstrom of fury.
The United States imposed new sanctions on the junta's leaders, and the United Nations dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive tomorrow.
Video footage emerged of a striking image of the shooting to death yesterday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News.
Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him.
The government has suspended the services of the two Internet service providers, BaganNet and Myanmar Post and Telecom, but big companies and embassies hooked up to the Web by satellite remained online. The Internet has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world in the past month.