September 28, 2007

By News  Desk

A wave of anti-government protests started in Myanmar on August 15, 2007, and continues. The immediate cause of the protests was mainly the decision of the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council, to remove fuel subsidies increasing the price on fuel by as much as 500%. Led by students and opposition political activists, the protest demonstrations were at first dealt with quickly and harshly by the junta, with dozens of protesters arrested and detained. Starting September 18, the protests had been led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those protests had been allowed to proceed until a renewed government crackdown on September 26.

On September 27, there were 50,000 protesters in Yangon. According to several news media the armed forces gave the protesters 10 minutes to disperse or face extreme action. In the evening, the Burmese state television reported that nine people have been killed in a force crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in Yangon. It added that eleven demonstrators and 31 soldiers had been injured.

So much news, information and updates managed to come out of the control of Burmese junata to the rest of the world is a result of Internet Power. Although only 1% of the Burmese population have internet, they have been blogging and telling their stories to the world. As per the latest development, the Myanmar Junta has blocked all the websites and main internet link has been stopped. 

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