Burmese Streets Quiet; Monks to be 'Sent Away'

Crackdown seems successful, people 'too scared' to march
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2007 12:48 PM CDT
Burmese Streets Quiet; Monks to be 'Sent Away'
In this photo made available by the Democratic Voice of Burma, soldiers man a checkpoint Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Overnight Myanmar security forces raided two Buddhist monasteries beating up and hauling away more than 100 monks following a day of violent confrontation....   (Associated Press)

The violent Burmese government crackdown appeared successful as heavily-armed police patrolled the quieted streets of Yangon today, and the BBC reported that some 4,000 detained monks were to be vanquished to prisons in the far north. BBC correspondents say the populace is afraid and helpless after riots that left 10 dead by government count—and many more by diplomat and activist reckoning.

With so many monks behind bars, where many are reportedly refusing food, protests that rocked Burma for two weeks have quieted. In the streets, soldiers outnumbered civilians, stopping people to prevent images from being smuggled to foreign journalists. “It's outwardly quite normal,” said the UK’s ambassador. “They've obviously for the moment squeezed things off the streets.” (More Burma stories.)

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