BREAKING NEWS: Christian Activists Condemn Deadly Burma Crackdown On Protesters (DEVELOPING STORY)

The clashes in Rangoon, Burma’s biggest city which is also known as Yangon, "came as a crowd of 10,000 people, including so-called monks, failed to disperse at the city’s Sule Pagoda," the government said, adding that police used minimum force.

The declaration, aired on state-run radio and television, was seen as the first official verification that force had been used to suppress a monthlong series of protests and the first admission that blood had been shed. Dissidents say the casualty count is higher, with as many as five people killed, including Buddhist monks.

Advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which has close contacts with especially Christian minorities in Burma, also called Myanmar, said the "military regime began attacking and arresting Buddhist monks and civilians following continuing demonstrations in Rangoon and other cities."

THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE

Despite the crack down, several thousand demonstrators, led by Buddhist monks, continued to march. "The police have used batons and tear gas, and fired warning shots into the air. Some monks and nuns have been seriously injured," said CSW in a statement to BosNewsLife. "Last night at least 20 prominent dissidents were arrested. Over 200 activists have previously been detained in relation to the protests [and] there are reports that telephone lines have been cut."
 
It was not immediately clear what impact the violence in Rangoon, a key junta stronghold, had on moral among government-backed troops fighting elsewhere, including in eastern Burma, where at least tens of thousands of civilians, many of them Christian Karens, were forced to flee their villages since 2006 following "the worst" military crackdown in a decade, CSW and other BosNewsLife observers have said.

Thousands of villages in eastern Burma have reportedly been destroyed and there are over one million Internally Displaced People in eastern Burma, and over 150,000 refugees in Thailand, BosNewsLife learned in Burma and Thailand. The crackdown on Karens and other predominantly Christian minorities has been linked to the junta’s objection to Christianity, which it views as a threat to its ideology and powerbase, human rights watchers say.    

FIGHTING REBELS

In addition, the military has been fighting several rebel groups, including the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which seeks more autonomy and rights for Karens and whose leadership apparently supports detained democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We are outraged by the response to the protests from the Burmese military regime. The use of force against peaceful protestors in this way is completely unacceptable, and should be condemned by the international community," said CSW’s Advocacy Officer for South Asia Benedict Rogers, who returned last week from a visit to the India-Burma border.

"The courage of the Burmese people who continue to defy this brutal regime inspires our profound respect. We call on the United Nations Security Council to respond to the current crisis by urgently passing a binding resolution requiring the regime to release political prisoners, free democracy leader , desist from brutal suppression of human rights and engage in meaningful dialogue for a transition to democracy," Rogers told BosNewsLife in a statement. 

SECURITY COUNCIL

CSW also said it was important for the Security Council "to set specific deadlines to monitor progress, and to outline sanctions which could be imposed if the regime fails to meet these demands." The group added that it welcomes measures outlined by United States President George W. Bush this week, which includes further sanctions and travel restrictions for those involved in the military government and their family members.

The group also asked the United Kingdom, where it has its headquarters, "to take the lead within the European Union in imposing targeted sanctions on the regime," while urging China , India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) "to use their influence to bring positive change to Burma."

CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said that it was also crucial that leaders of Christian denominations around the world, and individual Christians everywhere, "fulfill their Biblical mandate for justice by speaking up and praying for the suffering people of Burma at this time. This is a momentous and critical time for Burma and it is vital that we seize this opportunity to support the movement for freedom."

COUNTRIES CONCERNED

Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have all pressed Burma’s military for political reform, with little success. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have reportedly resisted any formal ASEAN action regarding Burma.

The military took power in 1962. In 1988, the government crushed pro-democracy protests, killing at least 3,000 people, according to human rights activists and other sources. Two years later, it allowed elections, which the opposition National League for Democracy won.

The military, however, refused to hand over power and jailed thousands of NLD supporters. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the years since under house arrest in Rangoon. Demonstrators tried to reach her home this week and she briefly appeared waving the crowds, television footage showed. (With BosNewsLife reporting from Burma and BosNewsLife Research).