Burmese from all faiths join to defend Buddhist monasteries against troops; slingshots for weapons, pots and pans for satcom

Saturday, September 29:

On a day when pro-democracy protesters filled Yangon streets, angry residents in Yangon and Mandalay, armed only with sticks and slingshots, beat back an attempt by Myanmar’s gun-toting troops to raid monasteries, a radio station run by exiled Myanmarese reported, citing eyewitness accounts.

The Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma, which is providing graphic accounts of the Buddhist monks-led uprising and brutal crackdown by the military, reported that troops approaching the monasteries in Yangon and Mandalay “backed off” after people from the surrounding areas prepared to thwart their approach.

The residents set up an “early warning system” by banging pots and pans whenever soldiers were seen approaching the monasteries, DVB reported, quoting a Mandalay resident. However, despite the vigilante action, troops managed to raid the Pauk Myaing monastery and arrested about 40 monks.

In Yangon, troops encountered resistance when they approached several monasteries, and were forced to retreat, DVB reported. It quoted a resident as saying that Muslims, Christians and Hindus joined Buddhists in defending the monasteries.(1)

1)Protesters beat back troops in Myanmar by Venkatesan Vembu
for DNA India; report filed from Hong Kong.