VARIOUS: Prayers and protests over Myanmar crisis

Demonstrators throughout Asia in support of the protesters in Myanmar and against the crackdown by the 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 San Suu Kyi, detained leader of the National League for Democracy, protesters chanted "We want democracy, we want human rights".In Tokyo about 20 exiled Myanmar residents began a 48 hour hunger strike in front of the United Nations University building. Braving the cold and the rain, the strikers put on arm bands and vowed not to eat a thing and drink only water until the international community unites to push the military junta in Myanmar to negotiate with pro-democracy activists to defuse the crisis back home. 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 | October 1, 2007

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