Burma Cracks Down Violently on Anti-Junta Protests

Early Thursday, security forces raided two prominent Buddhist monasteries, attacking and taking away more than 70 monks, AP said. And Myint Thein, spokesman for detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, was arrested, family members said.

In response to the crisis, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday he would dispatch his top Burma envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to the region to try to arrange a meeting with the country's leaders.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, expressed hope that Gambari could help "prevent" Burmese leaders from continuing the crackdown and lead them toward negotiations. He voiced frustration that China and Russia, Burma's closest supporters on the 15-member council, refused to support a tougher reaction.

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said his government believes "sanctions are not helpful," adding, "We hope the government and the people down there could sort out their differences and restore stability."

The bulk of Wednesday's protesters marched through the city peacefully on the way to the Sule Pagoda. But they were turned back by a cordon of armed soldiers and police with tear gas and truncheons. It was near the Sule temple that several thousand government opponents were killed in 1988 by troops putting down protests against the military's ruling State Peace and Development Council.

The soldiers who put down the 1988 uprising had been transferred into Rangoon, then the capital, from outlying areas because of fears that the city's normal garrison would not move against civilians. According to Maung Maung, there are signs that similar hesitations are arising in the Burmese military this time.

A declaration from a group calling itself the People's Patriotic Armed Forces Alliance was circulated among exile groups. In it, the authors described themselves as military officers and called on fellow officers to disobey if ordered to fire on protesting monks, students or democracy activists.

"On behalf of soldiers, we the People's Patriotic Armed Forces Alliance seriously and categorically warn the SPDC's top brass that if they solve the present situation with violence rather than seek peace, divergences would emerge inside the armed forces and defiance or mutiny would break out," the statement said, using initials for the junta.

Maung Maung said there was no way to judge the authenticity of the statement or how many officers it represented. But he added that someone identifying himself as a Burmese intelligence officer had posted comments on an exile blog Wednesday morning saying that similar sentiments have emerged in Burma's internal security services.

With foreign correspondents generally barred from entering Burma, information and images of events have been spread by e-mail and cellphones. This has frustrated the military's attempts to prevent reporting on the protests, but also has made journalists somewhat dependent on untrained and highly engaged sources passing along what they hear.

The contrast is stark between such modern communications and the robed monks leading the uprising. In a nation where more than 80 percent of the people identify with the Buddhist faith, the monks have long been seen as a source of guidance, inspiration and moral authority. In that light, the junta was reluctant to be seen attacking them.

Most of the monks in the streets in recent days are students from teaching monasteries, Maung Maung said, and some of their elders have urged them to return to class.

Staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.