YANGON, Myanmar -- Soldiers and police took control of thestreets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the fewpro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar's militaryjunta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internetaccess.
On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streetswere empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged theregime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups ofactivists to be chased around by security forces.
"Bloodbath again! Bloodbath again!" a Yangon resident yelledwhile watching soldiers break up one march by shooting into air,firing tear gas and beating people with clubs.
Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, butthey were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gatesand barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities,Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearbyroads to keep the clergymen isolated.
Many Yangon residents seemed pessimistic over the crackdown,fearing it fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeksago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew intodemonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years ofmilitary rule.
The corralling of monks was a serious blow. They carry high moralauthority in this predominantly Buddhist nation of 54 million peopleand the protests had mushroomed when the clergymen joined in.
"The monks are the ones who give us courage. I don't think thatwe have any more hope to win," said a young woman who had taken partin a huge demonstration Thursday that broke up when troops shotprotesters. She said she had not seen her boyfriend and feared hewas arrested.
Defiant of international condemnation, the military regime turnedits troops loose on demonstrators Wednesday. Although the crackdownraised fears of a repeat of a 1988 democracy uprising that saw some3,000 protesters slain, the junta appeared relatively restrained sofar.
The government has said police and soldiers killed 10 people,including a Japanese journalist, in the first two days of thecrackdown, but dissident groups put the number as high as 200.
Diplomats and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday thejunta's figure probably was greatly understated, based on thereports of witnesses and others. They provided no estimates of theirown and cautioned that witness reports had not been verified.
Getting accurate casualty figures has been difficult, with manyresidents too afraid to speak out and foreign journalists barredfrom openly entering Myanmar. Soldiers and police were going door-to-door at some hotels in Yangon looking for foreigners.
Violence continued Friday, but there no immediate reports ofdeaths from the government or dissident groups.
Just a few blocks from the Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, some2,000 protesters armed only with insults and boos briefly confrontedsoldiers, wearing green uniforms with red bandanas around theirnecks and holding shields and automatic weapons.
As the crowd drew near, the soldiers fired bullets in the air,sending most of the protesters scurrying away. A handful ofdemonstrators still walked toward the troops but were beaten withclubs and dragged into trucks to be driven away.
"Why don't the Americans come to help us? Why doesn't Americasave us?" said an onlooker. who didn't want to be identified forfear of reprisal from the junta.
In other spots, riot police chased smaller groups of die-hardactivists, sometimes shooting their guns into the air.
"The military was out in force before they even gathered andmoved quickly as small groups appeared, breaking them up withgunfire, tear gas and clubs," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomatin Myanmar, told The Associated Press.
"It's tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very wellbehaved," she said.
Authorities also shut off the country's two Internet serviceproviders, although big companies and embassies hooked up to the Webby satellite remained online. The Internet has played a crucial rolein getting news and images of the democracy protests to the outsideworld.
At the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most important Buddhisttemple, about 300 armed policemen and soldiers sat around thecompound eating snacks while keeping an eye on the monks.
"I'm not afraid of the soldiers. We live and then we die," saidone monk. "We will win this time because the international communityis putting a lot of pressure."
Condemnation of the junta has been strong around the world. OnFriday, people protested outside Myanmar embassies in Australia,Britain, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.
The United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari,was heading to the country to promote a political solution and couldarrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on conditionof anonymity.
While some analysts thought negotiations an unlikely prospect,the diplomat said the junta's decision to let Gambari in "means theymay see a role for him and the United Nations in mediating dialoguewith the opposition and its leaders."
World pressure has made little impact on the junta over theyears. Its members are highly suspicious of the outside world, andthey have shrugged off intense criticism over such actions askeeping pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Much of the regime's defiance -- and ability to withstandeconomic sanctions imposed by the West -- stems from the diplomaticand financial support of neighboring China. Another neighbor, India,also has refrained from pressuring the junta.
Analysts say that as long as those two giant countries remainsilent and other Southeast Asian countries keep investing inMyanmar, it is unlikely the junta will show any flexibility. Everyother time the regime has been challenged by its own people, it hasresponded with force.
Still, China has been urging the regime in recent months to getmoving with long-stalled political reforms, and on Friday theChinese government told its citizens to reconsider any trips plannedto Myanmar.
Myanmar's fellow members in the Association of Southeast AsianNations expressed "revulsion" over the crackdown and told the junta"to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution."Officials in neighboring Thailand said planes were on standby toevacuate ASEAN citizens in case the situation deteriorated.
