YANGON (Rangoon), September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Nine people were killed in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, in a crackdown by security forces during protests on Thursday, state media reported.
Following the arrest of over 200 monks in overnight raids, police initially succeeded in clearing central areas of Yangon, also known as Rangoon.
However, protesters regrouped, and security forces later opened fire with automatic weapons on members of an early evening anti-junta demonstration, according to Japan's Kyodo News, which cited local eyewitnesses.
Prior to the shootings, the military had been broadcasting warnings urging protesters to go home or face "serious action".
State television said that of the nine killed, one was a Japanese journalist. Japan's Foreign Ministry confirmed the report, and identified the victim as Kenji Nagai, a video journalist working for Tokyo-based news agency APF News.
Thursday's demonstrations saw a notably reduced number of monks involved in the protests - a feature explained by the fact that so many of them have been arrested or sealed off in their monasteries.
Witnesses also quoted by Kyodo said the junta's raids on the monks' monasteries were "brutal" and that "It was very much like they were raiding a rebel camp."
The absence of monks in the crowds is almost certainly linked to the increasing willingness of the security forces to open fire. Monks are held in high esteem in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and any massacre of the Buddhist holy men, in public at least, could have unpredictable consequences.
The protests, which are the largest in more than two decades, began last month when the junta drastically raised the price of fuel, leaving many people unable to afford even a journey to work.
The ruling junta seized power in 1988, and although a general election was subsequently held in 1990, the military authorities refused to honor the results when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party won.
The last anti-junta demonstrations in Myanmar were led by students in 1988. Security forces opened fire on crowds, and around 3,000 people were killed.
France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert read a statement to reporters today saying that UN Security Council members "have expressed their concern vis-a-vis the situation, and have urged restraint, especially from the government of Myanmar."
The statement came after the failure of the UN Security Council to adopt a draft resolution on Myanmar, after China and Russia blocked international calls for sanctions against the country.
China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said: "We believe sanctions are not helpful for the situation down there," while Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN envoy, said that the country first needed a "return to security."
