Silence in Yangon

Burmese security forces continued to round up Buddhist monks and other activists in Yangon on Thursday, a week after a crackdown put an end to massive pro-democracy demonstrations. What began as a hopeful and peaceful pro-democracy uprising, said The Calg

Burmese security forces continued to round up Buddhist monks and other activists in Yangon on Thursday, a week after a crackdown put an end to massive pro-democracy demonstrations. "They're looking for the people who led the demonstrations,” said Win Min, who fled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, during a crackdown on a 1988 uprising. “The people clapping will only get a minimal punishment -- maybe two to five years."

What began as a hopeful and peaceful pro-democracy uprising, said the Calgary Herald in an editorial, has ended in a nightmare of brutal repression. And “an Internet blackout” has “silenced” news of the military junta’s worst “atrocities.” Dissidents and defectors tell horrific tales of dozens -- if not hundreds -- of monks who have been beaten to death or shot -- the world must do more than condemn the regime. All nations -- including the generals’ key ally, China -- must follow up their words with sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

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