ABSTRACT
In September 2007, Buddhist monks, students, democracy campaigners, and ordinary men,
women, and children took their lives into their hands in the streets ofYangon, Myanmar, to
protest against the ruling military regime. The protests had begun a month earlier with peaceful
calls by the monks for the ruling authorities to reinstate subsidies on fuel and oil and alleviate
crippling commodity prices, but quickly snowballed into mass demonstrations for democratic
Toward the end of September, a military crackdown was well under way. As reported by one
eyewitness, with respect to the events of September 27, 2007, near the Sule Pagoda:
The military tried to disperse the crowd with loudspeakers, saying the people had 1 0 minutes to disperse or they would shoot. Not many people tried to leave then. A few minutes later, they started shooting in the air. Some people got scared and tried to run, but when they realized the soldiers were only firing in the air, most of them returned. Then, a few minutes later, they shot directly into the crowd. First they shot teargas but then they shot directly into the crowd, using live ammunition [and rubber bullets].
