Burma: Protesting monks are beaten by security forces

Burma's protesting monks have been been baton-charged and sprayed with tear gas after they defied the military's ban on demonstrations.

More than 10 monks were beaten by the country's security forces and over 200 are said to have been arrested in Rangoon.

Earlier, soldiers and armed police patrolled monasteries and other flashpoints as a night-time curfew ended and morning began.

Scroll down for more ...

Tear gas is fired at the protesters this morning

Burma's military leaders imposed the curfew and banned gatherings of people after 35,000 Buddhist monks and their supporters defied warnings and staged another day of anti-government protests yesterday.

Witnesses said many of the monks had been wearing surgical masks as a precaution against teargas attacks.

Armed riot police and soldiers poured into the Burmese city of Rangoon early today amid fears that eight days of peaceful protests led by the monks will end in bloodshed.

Signs that dictator General Than Shwe was preparing to defy worldwide opinion and crush the protesters emerged late last night as the military government banned all assemblies and issued a curfew.

Soldiers drove through the streets with loudspeakers announcing a ban on meetings of more than five people and a 9pm to 5am curfew.

Scroll down for more ...

The junta cracks down: Truckloads of soldiers were in the streets late yesterday afternoon and evening

With the first beatings of the monks, the scene was set for what many fear could be a massacre of pro-democracy campaigners. Tens of thousands have joined the monks in the past few days.

Last night security forces had surrounded Rangoon's Sule Pagoda, the focus of the mass protests, and appeared to be ready to seal off the area, witnesses said.

Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who appeared outside her house at the weekend, is said to have been moved to the notorious Insein prison.

Scroll down for more ...

The junta has so far been restrained in its response to the monks' protest, but yesterday evening soldiers were seen in the streets

Monks protesting yesterday. The junta has responded with a curfew

Yesterday the international community urged the government not to repeat the bloody crackdown of 1988, in which 3,000 pro-democracy protesters died.

George Bush condemned the military rulers for imposing a "a 19-year reign of fear" and the UN human rights investigator for Burma said he feared "very severe repression".

"It is an emergency," Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said.

Scroll down for more ...

A monk stands above the shoulders of the crowd yesterday as the demonstrations continued

10,000 people marched in Burma yesterday. Buddhist nuns have also joined in the protests for the first time

The notorious 22nd army division, which took part in the 1988 bloodshed, was among units heading to Rangoon yesterday after leaders of the hardline junta, which has ruled Burma for 45 years, held an emergency "war cabinet".

As darkness fell over the city, eight truckloads of riot police, carrying shields, batons and rifles, moved in to the city centre while five military trucks packed with soldiers arrived in a downtown area.

The Burma Campaign UK said its sources had reported the junta placing an order for 3,000 maroon monastic robes and telling soldiers to shave their heads. It is thought the soldiers could be ordered to infiltrate the monks.

Scroll down for more ...

It is the largest protest seen in Burma in more than two decades

The demonstrations have been going on for over a week

The pro-democracy protests have spread to 25 cities and towns across Burma.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband joined those urging restraint and added that Aung San Suu Kyi should be allowed to take her place as elected leader.

President Bush announced new U.S. sanctions against Burma's military rulers during his annual address at the United Nations.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of orange and red-robed monks ignored the warnings and threats of the junta to lead more protests across the country.

In Taunggok, a coastal city 250 miles north-west of Rangoon, up to 40,000 monks and civilians took to the streets.

One monk said: "The protest is not merely for the wellbeing of people, but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future."

The march of the monks: Buddhists lead mass protests against Burma's military rulers