A Japanese Journalist Died in Rangoon

Sep 27, 2:05 PM EDT

9 Killed in 2nd Day of Myanmar Crackdown
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Security forces fired automatic weapons into
thousands of pro-democracy protesters for a second day Thursday, and the military government said nine people were killed and 11 wounded.

Tens of thousands defied the ruling military junta's crackdown with a
10th straight day of demonstrations in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
Security forces also raided several monasteries overnight, beating monks and arresting more than 100, according to a monk at one monastery.

Among the dead was journalist Kenji Nagai of the Japanese video news
agency APF News. Japanese broadcaster Fuji posted a photo on its Web
site showing a man believed to be Nagai lying on his back – apparently wounded in the ch! est but holding a video camera in his hand - with a soldier pointing a gun at him at point-blank range.

The protests are the stiffest challenge to the generals in two decades,a crisis that began Aug. 19 with protests over a fuel price hike, then expanded dramatically when monks started leading the marches.

The crackdown has drawn increasing international pressure on the
isolated regime.

The Bush administration imposed economic sanctions against 14 senior
officials in the government, including the junta leader, Senior Gen.
Than Shwe, and the No. 2 man, Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye. The action freezes any assets the 14 have in U.S. banks or other financial institutions under U.S. jurisdiction, and also prohibits any U.S.citizens from doing business with those individuals.

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," Bush said in a statement.

Thousands of protesters ran through the streets of Yangon on Thursday
after warning shots were fired into the crowds. Bloody sandals were left lying in the road.

"Give us freedom, give us freedom!" some shouted at the soldiers.

Ye Htut, a government spokesman, said riot police clashed with
anti-government protesters in Yangon on Thursday, killing nine people
and injuring 11. Thirty-one government troops were also injured, he
said.

The government said one person was killed Wednesday, although media and dissident reports said up to eight died in the first day of the
crackdown.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tokyo held Myanmar
"strictly" accountable for Nagai's death. The 50-year-old journalist had been covering the protests in Yangon since Tuesday, APF representative Toru Yamaji said in Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Japan will lodge a
protest with Myanmar, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. "We
strongly protest the Myanmar government and demand an investigation"
into the death, Machimura was quoted as saying by the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, as saying. "We demand (Myanmar)take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the Japanese citizens inthat country."

Japan is to dispatch Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka to Yangon to protest Nagai's death, Kyodo News agency reported.

Witnesses said an estimated 70,000 people gathered in the streets, but there were only a handful of monks in the crowd, compared with previous days when thousands marched.

Witnesses and a Western diplomat told the AP that dozens of men were
arrested and severely beaten after soldiers fired into one crowd of
protesters. Troops in at least four locations fired into crowds after
several thousand protesters ignored an order from security forces to
disband, witnesses and diplomats said.

Some reports said the dead included Buddhist monks, who are widely
revered in Myanmar, and the emergence of such martyrs could stoke public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.

Before dawn Thursday, security forces raided several monasteries
considered hotbeds of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma.

A monk at Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery pointed to bloodstains on the concrete floor and said a number of monks were beaten and at least 100 were taken away in vehicles. Shots were fired in the air and tear gas was used to disperse a crowd of 1,500 supporters during the chaotic raid, he said.

"Soldiers slammed the monastery gate with the car, breaking the lock and forcing it into the monastery," said the monk, who did not give his name for fear of reprisal. "They smashed the doors down, broke windows and furniture. When monks resisted, they shot at the monks and used tear gas and beat up the monks and dragged them into trucks."

Empty bullet shells, broken doors, furniture and glass were strewn on
the ground.

A female lay disciple said a number of monks also were arrested at the Moe Gaung monastery, which was being guarded by soldiers. Both
monasteries are located in Yangon's northern suburbs.

In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, about 430 miles north of Yangon, five army trucks with soldiers and three fire trucks were seen driving into the Mahamuni Pagoda, where hundreds of monks were locked inside by security forces.

Another 60 soldiers blocked the road to the pagoda from the center of
the city.

Also Thursday, security forces arrested Myint Thein, spokesman for
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, family members
said.

An Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol
told AP that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remained at her
Yangon residence, where she has been held under house arrest for much of the past 18 years.

The diplomat said the junta had deployed more security forces around her house and on the road leading to it, with more than 100 soldiers inside the compound.

Myanmar's state-run newspaper blamed "saboteurs inside and outside the nation" for causing the protests in Yangon, and said the demonstrations were much smaller than the media were reporting.

The crackdown has prompted condemnations from officials in the U.S. and Europe and statements of concern from regional powerhouse China,
Myanmar's chief diplomatic ally.

China has come under increasing pressure to use its regional influence to urge Myanmar's ruling junta to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

On Wednesday, China refused to condemn Myanmar and ruled out imposing
sanctions against the country, but for the first time agreed to a
Security Council statement expressing concern at the violent crackdown and urging the country's military rulers to allow in a U.N. envoy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing that
"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated."

European Union diplomats agreed to consider imposing more economic
sanctions on Myanmar. Sanctions were first imposed in 1996 and include a ban on travel to Europe for top government officials, an assets freeze and a ban on arms sales to Myanmar.

AP News