The Independent frontpage on the Burmese Junta's crackdown

Burma: Hundreds may be dead, as junta tries to keep brutality unseen
By Rosalind Russellin Rangoon
Published: 29 September 2007

Burma's military leaders locked down monasteries, arrested dissidents and set up barricades across Rangoon yesterday in an attempt to suffocate the waves of street demonstrations calling for an end to their rule.

They also tried to cut off ordinary people's communication with the outside world, heightening fears that the crackdown that appears to have knocked the wind from the demonstrations could become more violent.

Yet, despite the regime's best efforts, a day after security forces killed at least nine demonstrators – dissident groups say the total could be as high as 200 – hundreds again risked their lives to defy the government in small but angry protests across Burma's main city.

Locked inside their monasteries, or banished from the city, the cinnamon-robed monks who have formed the backbone to the dignified protest of the past week were largely gone. In their place were civilians, less disciplined and more angry, some with bandanas around their faces. Shouting, jeering groups moved quickly around the city in an attempt to gather in large numbers. But the military, with soldiers packed in the back of trucks, raced after them, quickly breaking up gatherings with threats and force.-snip-