YANGON—At least nine people were killed in Myanmar Thursday as soldiers and police cleared the streets of central Yangon by giving protesters 10 minutes to leave or be shot, tightening a two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years.
Far fewer demonstrators took to the streets as the ruling military junta clamped down and soldiers raided monasteries in the middle of the night, rounding up hundreds of the monks who had been leading protests.
State television said at least nine people were killed.
One of dead was a Japanese photographer, shot when soldiers cleared the area near Sule Pagoda—a city-center focus of the protests—as loudspeakers blared out warnings, ominous reminders of the ruthless crushing of a 1988 uprising in which more than 3,000 people were killed.
In another area of Yangon, the country's largest city, soldiers of the 77nd Light Infantry Division opened fire into crowds after a military truck drove into protesters, onlookers said. Three people were killed on the spot.
As international concern mounted, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in an unusually strongly worded statement, demanded that member Myanmar stop using violence and voiced "revulsion" at the killings in Yangon.
President Bush called on all countries with influence over Myanmar to tell the junta to stop using force against the demonstrators. His administration announced sanctions against senior government figures.
In a sign that the junta may be hearing the international outcry over the crackdown, it agreed to receive a United Nations envoy to discuss the crisis.
In Yangon, about 200 soldiers marched toward the crowd and riot police clattered their rattan shields with wooden batons.
"It's a terrifying noise," one witness said.
The army moved in after 1,000 chanting protesters hurled stones and water bottles at troops, prompting a police charge in which shots were fired and the Japanese went down.
The crackdown began Wednesday when soldiers and police fired tear gas, clubbed protesters and arrested up to 200 monks in an attempt to quash the uprising.
Monastery Raids
Sporadic marches against fuel price hikes have swelled over the past month into mass demonstrations against 45 years of military rule in the former Burma. It is the worst unrest to hit the poor and isolated Southeast Asian country since the rebellion by students and monks in 1988.
Troops dispersing crowds on Thursday chased fleeing people, beating anybody they could catch, witnesses said.
Another Buddhist monk -- adding to the five reported killed Wednesday -- was killed during the midnight raids on monasteries, witnesses said.
Monks were kicked and beaten as soldiers rounded them up and shoved them onto trucks.
"Doors of the monasteries were broken, things were ransacked and taken away," a witness said. "It's like a living hell seeing the monasteries raided and the monks treated cruelly."
After darkness fell and curfew hour loomed, sporadic bursts of automatic rifle fire echoed over Yangon, a city of 5 million people.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said it had received reports of a big demonstration in the northwest coastal town of Sittwe, as well as incidents in Pakokku, Mandalay and Moulmein. Details were sketchy.
The junta told diplomats summoned to its new jungle capital, Naypyidaw, "the Government was committed to showing restraint in its response to the provocations," one of those present said.
The United States sought to rally the international community against Myanmar .
"I call on all nations that have influence with the regime to join us in supporting the aspirations of the Burmese people and to tell the Burmese junta to cease using force on its own people who are peacefully expressing their desire for change," Bush said in a statement.
ASEAN ministers, meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, "expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force."
All members except Myanmar issued the statement. The 10-member diplomatic and trade group holds as a core principle non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
Neighboring China, one of Myanmar 's few allies and seen as wielding considerable sway over the junta, said it was extremely concerned.
On Wednesday, China ruled out sanctions or an official condemnation of the use of force in the country of 56 million people.
Beijing has a deep investment in Myanmar, with concerns about trade, border stability and fighting drugs magnified by plans to build oil and gas pipelines through Myanmar 's ethnic ally mixed border regions into China.
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