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YANGON - Crowds taunted and cursed security forces barricading central Yangon on Friday to try to prevent more mass protests against Myanmar's 45 years of military rule and deepening economic hardship.
Potentially deadly games of cat and mouse went on for hours around the barbed-wire barriers in a
city terrified of a repeat of 1988, when the army killed an estimated 3,000 people in crushing an uprising in the former Burma.
Few Buddhist monks were among the crowds, unlike in previous days, after soldiers ransacked 10 monasteries on Thursday and carted off hundreds inside.
When the troops charged, the protesters vanished into narrow side streets, only to emerge elsewhere to renew their abuse until darkness fell and an overnight curfew took effect.
"F--- you, army. We only want democracy," some yelled in English. "May the people who beat monks be struck down by lightning," others chanted in Burmese.
Despite the visceral anger in their voices, far fewer protesters turned out in Yangon than earlier in the week, when they had walked alongside thousands of maroon-robed monks.
Shots were fired on Friday but there was no word of more casualties a day after troops swept protesters from the centre of Yangon, giving them 10 minutes to leave or be shot.
Troops fired on several crowds on Thursday and state-run television said nine people were killed.
"I am afraid we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday after talking by telephone with US President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
There has been no word on the fate of the monks, who turned what began as small protests against shock fuel price rises last month into a mass uprising when they lent their moral weight to demonstrations against the ruling generals.
Small concession
The junta faced a torrent of international condemnation but usually ignores outside pressure and appeared to have cut off public access to the internet, through which much of the news about their crackdown reached the rest of the world.
But in one small concession, the junta agreed to admit UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Diplomatic sources in Yangon said he was expected to arrive from Singapore on Saturday.
Some monks told foreign Burmese-language broadcasters they were not going to give up. Speaking anonymously, they said a "united front" of clergy, students and activists had been formed to continue the struggle.
Bush and Brown discussed the need to maintain international pressure on Myanmar's rulers and the White House condemned the crackdown as "barbaric."
Asked whether Bush and Brown talked about the possibility of encouraging Myanmar's people to overthrow their government if protests grew into a full-scale uprising, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that would be "a hypothetical."
"We certainly support the people who are marching for democracy and peace," he said.
Bush authorized new sanctions on Thursday against the Myanmar government, which has been operating under similar restrictions for years.
The European Union summoned Myanmar's senior diplomat in Brussels and warned him of tighter sanctions.
EU experts looked into possible restrictions on exports from Myanmar of timber, precious metals and stones but did not reach any decisions, one diplomat said. Investments by specific Europeans in the country were not raised, he said.
Activist Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign U.K., calling the EU sanctions "pathetic," and said a freeze on assets had netted less than 7,000 euros in all 27 EU member states and many countries allowed companies to do business in Myanmar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said sanctions were premature but that he was sorry to hear about civilian deaths.
"As far as sanctions are concerned, this is a topic to be especially considered in the United Nations," said Putin.
Russia is, like China, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member and has shown growing interest in energy cooperation with Myanmar. China, the main backer of Myanmar's military government, has flatly ruled out backing sanctions.
The junta told diplomats summoned to its new jungle capital of Naypyidaw that it was "committed to showing restraint in its response to the provocations," one of those present said.
International fury
One man killed on Thursday was Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai, 50. He was shot point-blank, according to video footage, when soldiers charged crowds near Sule Pagoda in Yangon, the focus of more than a week of protests now deep inside the sealed-off area.
Japan said it would send an envoy to Myanmar to investigate. A man believed to be Singaporean was injured by a rubber bullet, Singapore's Foreign Ministry said.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also said he spoke with the Chinese premier by phone. He said Wen had assured him Beijing would seek to exercise its influence over the junta.
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), one of the few international groupings to have Myanmar as a member, went further. ASEAN, which hardly ever criticizes a member directly, expressed "revulsion" at the crackdown.
There were protests across Asia, with many people wearing red to symbolize the blood spilled in Myanmar.
"Junta, go to hell!" yelled some of the 2,000 protesters in Kuala Lumpur. In Canberra, about 100 tried to charge the Myanmar embassy.
In Jakarta, 50 Foreign Ministry officials in red shirts observed a period of silence. There were also protests in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand, home to 1 million refugees and migrant workers from Myanmar.
- REUTERS