Witnesses render the malignant magnitude of horror

"A lot of rumours are flying around Yangon. I am getting awfully paranoid. Yesterday, I saw many people marching along with the monks. It was probably thousands, but I'm not too sure, because I saw them marching on Shwedagon Pagoda Road, and they didn't come on to Bo Gyoke Aung San Rd, where I was watching. I saw them again when I came back from work. This group was a smaller group of between 200 to 300. They were chanting the same prayers, and asking people to clap. The people on the bus clapped along with them. I think they were going back to their monastery. Yesterday, Brig. Gen. Thura Myint Maung, Myanmar's religious affairs minister, was shown on state television delivering the "message" during a meeting with the senior Buddhist clerics, saying that young monks were "persuaded" by "external and internal elements", and that if the monks do not restrain themselves, they'll take action by legal means.
Some shops downtown closed down early, and some companies released their employees early.
My co-worker is deleting some of his posts on his blog. :P Internet connection was down from 11:20am to 3:40pm. I don't know if it's an isolated case, or just in my office. "

From weblog.xanga.com/dawn_1o9

"We all, as a one of people will courageously refuse all the unlawful orders by the military regime. Therefore we will stand firm with patriotic spirit. All the people will come out to the street like the other days. I would like to request all other people to collaborate with us. "

From seinkhalote.blogspot.com

"Tomorrow...we need more strength and resistance, if we can stand tomorrow, I am 80% sure that our hope is coming right away"

From koniknayman.blogspot.com

"My duty time part is working on Emergency YGH... at about 2:00 pm 5 patients was coming to our Emergency ... for Gun Shot from Government militaries... 1 patients died on the spot on arriving Hospital... ( shot on Bladder ) 4 r still bad in Diagnosis... The patient's attendant said " the patient r not in the line of protest... they ( victims ) are just chatting and watching the protest line and sitting on Cafe Bar near Shawe Dagon Pagoda , some r pedestrians" when they watching.... Government military Car was crossing to the protest line and randomly shot all of them ... don't they have Family? don't they have Brain? ... I always ready to support Protest Monks and People... and wanna treat whenever they get injuries ... This PROTEST is our chance to get improving our country among neighbours ... "

From ko-htike.blogspot.com

"Another column of thousands of people are coming to their way to reinforce the peaceful demonstrators who are in confrontation with armed military troops. A respectful old monk is in the vanguard of the column singing national anthem and holding flags of fighting peacock. Despite peaceful demonstrators have been beaten to break up the crowd, the demonstrators are still together reciting “metta sutta”(A discourse on loving-kindness, about disseminating love to those who are aggressive)

From seinkhalote.blogspot.com

Witness accounts from Burma

Soldiers and police started firing into crowds of protestors in Myanmar on Thursday, after giving them 10 mintues to clear the streets or be shot.An eyewitness in Myanmar wrote a letter published on an internet blog., MMEDwatch, denouncing the terror and how monasteries are being broken into by soldiers.“They are treating the sanghas [monks] like terrorists.They [the soldiers] took cash and food away from the monastery, not just the monks. A lot of people have seen the crime scene and even this morning it is apparent there was blood shed last night.

Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery was the worst hit but other monateries were also sieged.”The identity of many eyewitnesses could not be published as the Burman state controls the main broadcasters and publications, imposing censorship and known for using the media as propaganda tools, standing against the report of any opposing views.What also seems clear in the writings of Burman eyewitnesses who manage to have their voice published is their attempt to let the world know what is really happening and their determination to keep on the protest.

The eyewitness published on MMEDwatch also wrote: “People need to know about what happened. The only reason they [the government] issued a curfew is to break into monasteries without eyewitnesses, trying to instill fear so that the protest will stop, dragging the monks out and beating them up to show their strength.”Another eyewitness published on Ko-htike blog, wrote: “Can someone do something for our country? Yangon is now like a war zone. I even heard shooting over the phone. People are not giving up the protest and more are coming out to the streets. They [military] even used tear gas in primary schools.”

MMEDwatch blogko-htike.blogspot.com

Burmese use net as tool against military

The people of Burma are using citizen journalism to document killings in clashes with the military – which has claimed nine people so far.

Civilians have uploaded pictures and videos of the violence on to websites such as you tube and other sites.

One site called Burma Digest today put up a photo called “soldier shooting into crowds killing many” which showed blood-stained streets and bodies lying on roads amidst the unrest.

A message from someone in Rangoon, displayed on the BBC website, claimed that the military are hiding bodies to cover up the brutality.
Wai commented: “There are many deaths on the streets of Rangoon. There were many deaths by gun-shots but the military is taking away the bodies so that they can hide their inhumane violence on civilians. Now even spectators on the streets, who are not involved in the protests are being shot at.”

Latest reports are that a Japanese video journalist, who worked for Japanese news agency APF, is among the dead.

Burma’s military government are notoriously strict in their censoring of the internet and research by Harvard University found that the authorities stopped people accessing 84% of web-pages they tested.

It is thought that Burmese people are using underground internet cafes to upload images of the offences that they claim are being committed by the military.

A similar protest for democracy was carried out on August 8, 1988 when thousands were killed. However this is the first strike for a revolution where Burmese people have used the internet to show the world what is happening in the country.