Re: Burmese are well ahead in their fight for democracy
Burmese monks ‘to be sent away’
Thousands of monks detained in Burma’s main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC.
About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.
They are being held at a disused race course and a technical college.
Sources from a government-sponsored militia said they would soon be moved away from Rangoon.
The monks have been disrobed and shackled, the sources told BBC radio’s Burmese service. There are reports that the monks are refusing to eat. The country has seen almost two weeks of sustained popular unrest, in the most serious challenge to the military leadership for more than two decades.
The banned opposition broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma has issued a picture which they say shows the body of a monk floating near the mouth of the Rangoon river.
Last week several monasteries were raided, and there were reports of monks being beaten and killed. With many monks behind bars, the demonstrations have now died down.
The crackdown, in which unarmed protesters were beaten, tear-gassed, and shot at, has attracted condemnation from abroad, and even from Burma’s neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).
As well as preventing the demonstrations, the military junta has tried to block news of the unrest filtering out. Troops are stopping young men on the streets and in cars, searching for cameras that may be used to smuggle out images. Most internet links are still down and mobile phone networks disrupted.
Official media has been warning Burmese people against co-operating with or using foreign news outlets. A TV message on Monday referred to the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia as “assassins on air”.