Crowds of Buddhist monks and civilians filled the streets of Burma's main city today, defying warning shots, tear gas and baton charges meant to quell the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years.
Two monks and a civilian were killed, hospital and monastery sources said, as decades of pent-up frustration at 45 years of unbroken military rule in the former Burma produced the largest crowds yet during a month of protests.
The United States and the European Union condemned the violence against demonstrators and asked the UN Security Council to consider sanctions against Burma. The Council planned to meet on the Burma crisis later today.
Police man a barricade after closing the eastern gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon this morning Photo: Reuters
Some witnesses estimated 100,000 people took to the streets today despite fears of a repeat of the ruthless suppression of Burma's last major uprising, in 1988, when soldiers opened fire, killing an estimated 3,000 people.
"They are marching down the streets, with the monks in the middle and ordinary people either side. They are shielding them, forming a human chain," one witness said over almost deafening roars of anger at security forces.
As darkness fell in Rangoon, however, people dispersed ahead of a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The streets were almost deserted.
In the second city of Mandalay, also under curfew, the Asian Human Rights Commission said there was no opposition to 10,000 protesting against grinding poverty.
Five decades ago, the country was regarded as one of Asia's brightest prospects. Now it is one of its most desperate.
In the northwest coastal town of Sittwe, which has seen some of the biggest protests outside Rangoon, residents said 10,000 took to the streets today, the Buddhist holy day.
World leaders again appealed again to the junta to exercise restraint over the protests that started against fuel price rises last month and erupted into a major revolt after soldiers fired shots over monks in the town of Pakokku on Sept. 5.
In a statement after a ministerial meeting on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, the United States and the 27-member EU called on the military rulers to stop violence and start a dialogue with pro-democracy leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic minority groups. The statement said the UN Security Council should consider sanctions.
China and Russia, which have friendlier relations with the Burma authorities, have so far blocked any UN sanctions.
In the afternoon, riot police fired tear gas at columns of monks trying to push their way past barricades sealing off the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's holiest shrine and the starting point of more than a week of marches.
As many as 200 maroon-robed monks were arrested at the gilded shrine as the Buddhist priesthood, the country's highest moral authority, went head-to-head with the might of the military.
The junta, whose leaders remain hunkered down in a new capital 250 miles (385 km) to the north, had tried to keep the monks off the streets, sending trucks of soldiers and police to block six activist monasteries early in the morning.
The generals also rounded up more prominent dissidents, including comedian Za Ga Na, who had urged people to take to the streets.
Ranks of riot police remained outside the lakeside home of detained opposition leader Suu Kyi to ensure no attempt was made to pluck the 62-year-old Nobel laureate from house arrest.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour warned Myanmar's rulers they could face an international court for violence against the protesters.
"The use of excessive force and all forms of arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters are strictly prohibited under international law," she said in a statement.
A Burma opposition leader said he feared more people will die. "It is not a good sign. The confrontation has already started," Sein Win, who heads a self-proclaimed government-in-exile, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. from Paris.