Shots fired

If I were a human rights activist, I’d save some astonishment for this:

The Myanmar military opened fire on crowds of protesters in Yangon, almost certainly causing casualties, a French diplomat in the city said Wednesday.

“Shots were fired by the security forces, first in the air, then at the demonstrators. We cannot know if many people were injured but we can be sure that blood was spilled,” Emmanuel Mouriez, number two at the French embassy, told French radio RTL.

“We have several witness accounts describing people lying on the ground,” he added.

Soldiers and police in junta-ruled Myanmar fired tear gas on about 1,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks early Wednesday as they started a march from a landmark Yangon pagoda, witnesses said.

Despite the crackdown, tens of thousands of protesters regrouped in downtown Yangon an hour later, according to witnesses.

Unless the military junta is willing to shoot and imprison thousands of Buddhist monks and tens of thousands of ordinary people … which this development suggests it may well be willing to do … this is going to end badly for them.  Even if it is willing to shoot and imprison them by the thousands. Which means that, at the cost of the blood of its people, Burma may soon be free.

via Captains Quarters, where Ed examines the chart of history and notes, “Killing people openly for peaceful protests is the last resort of tyrants.”  Often ends at heliports, lampposts.

Topics: asia

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:47 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2007

6 Responses to “Shots fired”

  1. The_Real_JeffS Says:

    Sorry, but all them high faluting “human rights activists” are more concerned about the inhuman actions of the jack booted legions of torturers and murderers from the American imperialist world empire led by Emperor Chimpy Hilter Haliburton McBush.

    A military junta shooting protesters in the streets? That’s sooooooo 1970s.

    /BDS

  2. The Thunder Run Says:

    Web Reconnaissance for 09/26/2007

    A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

  3. Freedom Watch « Tai-Chi Policy Says:

    [...] and other protesters. Not unexpectedly. The question now is what happens next? Jules Crittenden is optimistic. I would like to be, but I don’t [...]

  4. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:

    Military junta shooting protesters in the streets? Well standby, HRW, AI, the UN, the DNC and western media will be right there with their moral authority to put a stop to that nonsense.

    What? They’re busy? With what? Oh yeah, with rendition, water boarding, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Katrina, Florida 2000, 8 fired US attorneys, Valerie Plame…

    But. but…

  5. saltydog Says:

    Hey, nothing and no one is as bad as America and Americans, unless it is Israel and the Zionists.

  6. RebeccaH Says:

    Even in one of the most reclusive and oppressive countries on earth, the idea of freedom breaks out. It’s viral, it can’t be stopped, and every despot and dictator must spend sleepless nights contemplating his own inevitable doom. Setbacks are just setbacks. Eventually, even if the people suffer, they win.

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