VARIOUS: Demonstrations throughout Asia in support of protesters in Myanmar and against crackdown by military junta

Myanmar dissidents in South Korea shaved their heads on Sunday (September 30) in a demonstration on the streets to protest against the military government's crackdown in Myanmar. At least a hundred protesters gathered in front of the Myanmar Embassy in downtown Seoul. In Singapore, more than 1,000 people from Myanmar attended a prayer session at the Burmese Buddhist temple. The Buddhist followers, who comprise the biggest Myanmar community in Asia, wore red shirts to show their support for Myanmar's monks, the moral core of the Buddhist nation who don maroon robes. State-run media said 10 people had been killed since the crackdown began. Among the dead was a Japanese journalist, apparently killed at the hands of a soldier firing at point-blank range. But foreign diplomats believe the death toll so far is much higher. In Bangkok, hundreds of Myanmar people marched through the streets, calling for the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) to get tougher on Myanmar. Carrying pictures of the national hero General Aung Sann and his daughter Aung Sann Suu Kyi, detained leader of the National League for Democracy, protesters chanted "We want democracy, we want human rights". Meanwhile, protests continued in Tokyo as demonstrators, many who are Myanmar citizens in exile in Japan, braved the cold and the rain on Sunday to march through the streets. Many brandished pictures of monks protesting in the streets of Yangon, as well as Aun San Suu Kyi and Nagai, who was the first foreign victim of the protests. In the Thai city of Mae Sot, where a group of former Myanmar dissidents in exile tried to march to the border between the two countries to demonstrate at the military crackdown in Myanmar, the demonstration was broken up by the Thai authorities even before it had really begun.

ITN Source | September 30, 2007

Tags:. .military. .carrying. .september. .association. .don