Akyab, Arakan State: The Burmese military junta and members of the United Solidarity Development Association (USDA) have warned all monasteries in Akyab not to allow young monks, called novices, to go out of the monasteries. The order came after authorities imposed curfew in Rangoon and Mandalay, said a resident in Akyab.
The USDA members and junta officials visited all the monasteries in Akyab and told senior monks not to allow young monks to go out of the monasteries to the streets. Should any monastery flout the order they would face action.
More than 4,000 monks and people demonstrated on the streets of Akyab on September 25, while more than 100,000 peoples hit the streets of Rangoon.
All the monasteries were surrounded by troops in most of the cities in Burma since September 26.
More than 1,000 Rohingya people from Akyab joined the demonstration led by monks on September 26, said a Rohingya elder from Akyab.
The ruling authorities brought soldiers from Infantry Battalions (IB) No. 374 from Kyauktaw and Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) No.289 from Maruk_U to tighten security in Akyab on September 25, said sources.
Authorites in Arakan closed routes in the state and monitored monks who were traveling.
In Maungdaw and Buthidaung, security was tightened with riot police (Hloontin) and Military intelligent Agency personnel at all key points. Schools are still closed since the uprising in Rangoon. Today, concerned authorities distributed sophisticated weapons to security forces, Hloontin, said an elder in Maungdaw.
Soldiers with automatic rifles fired into crowds of anti-government demonstrators Thursday, killing at least nine people and wounded 11 including a Japanese photo-journalist, in the bloodiest day in more than a month of protests demanding an end to military rule, according to eye-witness.
Today, Burma’s military rulers declared no-go zones around five key Buddhist monasteries in an effort to quash the demonstrations, diplomat said after a Southeast Asian envoy were called in by Burmese authorities for a meeting.
The United States imposed economic sanctions Thursday on more than a dozen senior Burma officials, including the junta's two top generals, and it again urged China as Burma's main economic and political ally to use its influence to prevent further bloodshed.
US President George Bush speaking on the first day of the United Nations' 62nd General Assembly in New York, that "Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where the military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear and basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship are severely restricted. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Forced child labor, human trafficking and rape are common. The regime has more than 1,000 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party was elected overwhelmingly by the Burmese people in 1990."##