9 Killed in Burmese Crackdown

Japanese reporter among dead as troops scatter protesters
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2007 12:04 PM CDT
9 Killed in Burmese Crackdown
Anti-government demonstrators in Myanmar carry pieces of wood as they face riot policemen in Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators Thursday, during clashes that killed at least nine people including a Japanese national...   (Associated Press)

Burmese troop forcibly scattered some 70,000 protesters for a second day today, with gunfire claiming the lives of at least nine—even as leaders around the world called for restraint. One of the dead is reportedly a Japanese photographer, spawning fears that the junta is targeting journalists to prevent news coverage. 

Crowds angry about the overnight detention of hundreds of monks had gathered in Yangon's main square. Officials used loudspeakers to warn demonstrators they had 10 minutes to leave or be shot; emptied streets were littered with lost shoes and bloodstains, reports Britain's Telegraph. Soldiers killed three people in a later protest outside the city's heart, their bodies tossed in a ditch as troops chased fleeing people, witnesses said. (More Burma stories.)

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