Soldiers in army-ruled Myanmar fired warning shots yesterday to halt a protest by 600 Buddhist monks, the first time troops have been called in against a rare two-week outbreak of dissent, a resident said.The Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a news service run by exile dissidents, said some of the thousands of onlookers cheering the march from both sides of the road were beaten.
The monks in Pakokku, northwest of Yangon, were waving banners condemning last month's price hikes and reciting Buddhist scriptures when the army broke them up by firing shots over their heads, a witness said.
As the monks walked through the town, they were reportedly cheered on by more than 10,000 bystanders who had turned out to watch the demonstration.
One bystander told DVB the soldiers fired "10 to 15 bullets, before they started to drag away the monks and beat up bystanders with bamboo sticks”.
A monk who participated in the protest told DVB that members of his monastery were struggling financially with many unable to afford the 50-kyat razors they needed to keep their heads shaved.
Intervening against monks in Pakokku is particularly risky as the town is only 130km from Mandalay, the religious heart of a devoutly Buddhist nation and home to 300,000 monks.
News reports from dissident organisations suggest the generals have been pressuring the heads of Mandalay's monasteries not to become involved in the fuel price protests.
"They seem to be more nervous. Once the monks in Mandalay start to rise, they won't be able to control it," a Yangon-based politician said.
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