Live Riot blog from Burma with Pictures

reply to post by ForPeacenJustice
Of course they will do everything to stay in power. What do they face else? They face being simply murdered , got no problem with that btw.
They face being trialed for crimes against humanity. They face to lose all their money,goods etc. So yes they will try to stay in place at all costs.

Why do you think they literally moved the capital to the middle of the country?
Because its less vulnerable and better to control everything from there.

What to do?
- Firstly, as far as I can see your people is not united enough. You have to unite more.
- More people have to want to be free enough so they protest also. Willing to be free and not doing anything is not going to bring your people further.
As your Lady said "Nothing comes for nothing. My people need to act instead of wish. If they want to be free they need to actively help those who start and lead". And she's right.

You have a population estimated around 56 million. From which estimated are around 2-3 million people working for various government branches. So where were all the others when a few brave thousands took the streets?

Easy to say out of my position, I know. They are probably too afraid. And in some way rightfully so. But if your people unites and comes up with more, they can not stop you.

- Nation wide large protests. They withdrew loads of troops to Rangoon, meaning in other cities there are less troops.

- Large psychological campaign aimed at army. Those have been brainwashed. Turn the process. Make them think. Hammer it in their heads that they might be better off with another Gov aswell. Tell them they are shooting family.

Etc.


Question towards you : what happens if the top4 is dead? Who takes over? Are there generals with enough authority? One of their children?
Would a revolution have more chance when they are suddenly gone?



[edit on 3-10-2007 by Drozla]

80 monks released

YANGON (Reuters) - Burma's junta released 80 monks rounded up last week in a crackdown on the biggest anti-government protests in nearly 20 years, one of those freed said on Wednesday.

The monk, in his mid-20s but too nervous to give any more details of his identity, said he and 79 brethren were returned to their Mingala Yama monastery in Yangon shortly after midnight.

The remaining 16 of 96 arrested during a raid on the monastery -- among hundreds arrested in similar raids on at least 15 Yangon monasteries -- were expected to be freed soon, he said.

The monk also talks about how he and his fellows were treated.
The article talks of rumours of more beatings and deaths and the imminent release of more monks and nuns.

Heres the video again, other link did not work for me.
ko-htike.blogspot.com...

I wonder what kind of staves that are, it looks realy like iron sticks...

You see also the white shirts standing near. Those are the thugs released from prisons etc in order to beat up the protesters , or even worse.

Also notice how very brave they are. /sarcasm

[edit on 3-10-2007 by Drozla]

Video about interview with man who escaped.

Video

Defection of Army Colonel confirmed in a Norway Newspaper :
Source

[edit on 3-10-2007 by Drozla]

this is odd.. on 2 blogs all info about Burma is dissapearing..
soneseyar.blogspot.com...
www.kohtike.blogspot.com...


Edit : They are back on, perhaps updating or so.

Monks missing :
Monks

[edit on 3-10-2007 by Drozla]

"Than Shwe is a such an old fox and a psychological warfare guy, I don't believe he will personally cave in. I don't see him as a compromiser. There is a lot of history between them," said Bradley Babson, a retired World Bank Myanmar expert.

Source

about that deserted general:

that norway post article is pretty old already, and whilst i read sometimes that he fled to thailand, this article says he is in the jungle hiding with the karen people. the latest news comes from niknaymans c-box
burmanews.cbox.ws...
3 Oct 07, 08:02Admin: Yangon's Brigadier General Hla Htay Win & family have been put under house arrest and all of their properties have been confiscated.
i dont know how reliable that is. but it makes me notice another urgent point, and drozla is very right about this:
the army people must be turned around. there must be more like this general hla htay win who refused to kill and deserted.

what can western countries do about it?
maybe: give them hope for a better life if they defect. norway should have granted him asylum instantly (no idea what norway really did, probably wait and discuss)
this is a major thing and hard to ask for, regarding the "political asylum situation" in many countries. but defecting soldiers and particularly generals from burma should have the outlook on immediate political asylum if they make it over the border!!

i hear some news that thailand put up more security on their burma border because they dont want the flood of refugees.
china ordered their monasteries not to shelter burmese monks.
(all unconfirmed news, but what else do we get?)

THIS glues the soldiers`loyalty towards their own government. because it is the only place where they can be, so to make their living, they have to obey this government and ignore obvious moral issues ...



just an idea, please tell me your opinion.


j

hm okay, or maybe this is very unrealistic, as nobody could provide the transport for all those refugees and no country would grant so many people asylum. but what if the EU or UN would pay the neighbouring countries (thailand, maybe india, maybe china) for giving such people temporary political asylum? burmese deserting soldiers would probably rather stay close to their home country and culture anyway such that they can return.

would this be more realistic?

reply to post by ljubljana


I think we only need to transport one col. who will give all the info that he knows to the people all over the world. One thing is that he is an mid-rank military officer from Military Intelligence (MI).

Pinheiro said his trip would be different than Gambari's visit in that it would be "more fact-finding" than official dialogue.

Source

According to Norway's Foreign Ministry (UD) Major Htaly Win will present his case there on Thursday.
....
"But we have heard that at least 200 people are dead. But the soldiers I had control over shot no civilians while I was there," Win said.

Source

Free Burma! Graphics and other links.
Free Burma!

There are rumors of massacres and mass arrests today in Myanmar. Journalists are banned from the country making it difficult to get accurate information. Times of London reporter Nick Meo, who is following the ongoing conflict from the Myanmar-Thailand border, speaks with Alex Chadwick about the protest, crackdown and the difficulties covering the events.

Source

Much like Myanmar's former kings, they see themselves as the only ones capable of ruling, and their army as the only force that can transform the country into a modern state.

Anyone questioning their 45 years of supremacy, whether a lone protester or tens of thousands on the streets of Yangon, is simply seen as a threat and dealt with the same brute force.

Source

Please pass this petition to everyone. We got "538000 signatures!" (quoted from mono in ko-htike cbox).

[edit on 3-10-2007 by BetterMyanmar]

“At this critical juncture, I urge the United States government to work with China, India, Japan, the members of ASEAN and the world community on a strong, coordinated approach to encourage peaceful change in Burma and meet the enormous humanitarian needs of the Burmese people. I call on the Government of Burma to immediately release all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and to cooperate fully with the UN Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari so that he might continue his efforts to promote dialogue and national reconciliation.”

Full Statement on Situation in Burma by Joseph R. Biden, US senator of Delaware is HERE.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 3, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 419 The Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Boxer

Hearing in US Senate Committee

Note: Audio is not yet released right now.

[edit on 3-10-2007 by BetterMyanmar]

UN human rights asks to be allowed to investigate. Link to article

October 3, 2007 - For the first time, an outraged United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned the Burmese military junta for its violent crackdown on protesters and demanded it be allowed to immediately investigate the situation in Burma.

The Council, which held a special session on the human rights situation in Burma on Tuesday, passed a resolution that demanded the junta allow a special Rapporteur to investigate it.

The resolution said it "strongly deplores continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrators in Burma, including beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances."

"The council calls on the government of Burma to allow Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights, to visit Burma and investigate the situation," Aung Myo Min, a Burmese human rights activists, attending the special session on Burma at the council's fifth meeting, told Mizzima.

BBC has news that monks are trying to flee the area.

Scores of monks are trying to leave Burma's main city, Rangoon, following the military's bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, reports say.

Monks were seen at the railway station and bus drivers were reportedly refusing to take them, out of fear they would not be allowed petrol.

Curfews and night-time police raids are continuing in Rangoon. Correspondents describe a climate of fear there.

And in the same article talks about more threats and imminent arrests.

Military vehicles patrolled Rangoon's streets before dawn with loudspeakers blaring: "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests."

One correspondent in Rangoon told the BBC that people in the country's former capital were angry and frightened.

The correspondent described how a middle-aged man in one of the city's tea shops whispered: "I really want change - but they have guns and we don't, so they'll always win."

Reports from Rangoon said around 25 more monks were arrested by security forces in a raid on a temple overnight.

Red capitalism has an update with new video footage.

Update Ex- Burmese Soldier Reports

A Dutch website has released new footage of the violent crackdown in Burma. The images are complemented by the commentary of an ex Burmese soldier who witnessed the violence from up close.

The video can be watched here(Dutch subtitles)

Update with Translation. The Burmese soldier says the army shoots citizens and uses tear gas. The executers or the leaders of the military however, doe not receive any punishment for their actions. Soldiers are even forced to beat their own families. A representative of Human Right Watch says that he expects the military to fall apart internally. He argues that the brutalities will increasingly lead to soldiers escaping from the order and the military.

CNN
has another eyewitness report, this one from an international aid worker.

An international aid worker who witnessed the bloody crackdown on weekend pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar told CNN she saw bodies lying in the street in front of a pagoda dedicated to world peace, possibly as a warning from the government's security forces.

"There was a body lying on the road, there was another body slumped over the back of the truck," said the woman, who did not want to be identified for security reasons.

"There were crowds gathered approximately 400 meters away but they were not coming closer to help out. And it just looked like (the bodies) had been left there for people to witness, for people to see what they were capable of."

She said the bodies were near Yangon's Kaba Aye pagoda, a gold-domed Buddhist shrine. Kaba Aye means world peace in Burmese.

Saturday's demonstration was a complete turnaround from demonstrations in previous days which were largely peaceful, she said.

She said "there were no military around" during protests she witnessed on Sept. 24.

More at the link above

reply to post by Drozla


Nice pointing out.But just like you'd mention above.They will do anything to hold up their power.Beside many citizen in myanmar earn just for daily meal.That is what government want us to be.So we would not have a time to think about this revolution.From what i had heard,if this Than Shwe died,there might be more chance to do negotiating with Mg Aye.Thanks for ur time to reply my post.

Special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was scheduled to sit down with Ban on Thursday to report on his four-day trip to the Southeast Asian nation, where troops quelled mass protests with gunfire last week and continued to round up suspected activists.

Asked about Gambari's visit, Ban said, "You cannot call it a success."

Source

reply to post by ilandrah
The Dutch translation does not mention that he says the army will fall appart. It says he expectsmore frustration in the lower ranks.


[edit on 4-10-2007 by Drozla]