Update: Protests In Burma Lead To Arrests And Shooting Into Crowds

After many warnings to end the demonstrations it has been reported that soldiers have fired directly into the crowds of protesters. The drama has been captured by news teams across the globe and shows hundreds of demonstrators fleeing baton-wielding soldiers underneath clouds of tear gas.

It has been suggested that 70,000 protesters were on the streets of Burma’s biggest city, although there were less today due to over night arrests. Among the fatalities of the shootings was a foreign photographer, who was believed to be Japanese. There have been several other reports of people dead.

The military had previously warned it would shoot demonstrators if they did not disperse and unfortunately they didn’t take the warnings seriously.

The United Nations’ Security Council had urged Burma’s military government yesterday to exercise restraint towards peaceful protesters. Condoleeza Rice, US Secretary of State has called the situation in Burma a ‘tragedy’ and said

“The regime has reacted brutally to people who were simply protesting peacefully.”

Chinas relationship with Burma has also been involved, with the International Community urging China to apply more pressure on the regime not to act violently to the demos.

It has been reported that Burma’s government has blamed the West for the protests with the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper writing,

“Certain western media and anti-government media are broadcasting leading news stories and distorted news stories to stir up the mass protests,”

Do you think that the West is to blame for the protests?