Das Tönchen!

Sep 27, 2007 (DVB)—About 700 monks and civilians were arrested late last night following a brutal attack by the military on at least three monasteries in Rangoon.

At the Ngway Kyar Yan Monastery in South Okkalapa township eyewitnesses described the scene of the arrests as unbelievable.

“Many spots of blood could still be seen in the morning in the monastery compound and nearby,” one witness said.

Eyewitnesses said three trucks filled with soldiers arrived at the monastery at about 12:15am this morning. When the monks refused the soldiers’ demand to open the gate, a fight broke out in which both sides hurled bricks at each other for about 20 minutes.

The soldiers eventually crashed through the gate with one of the trucks and used bamboo sticks to beat everyone in the monastery, including monks, laymen, women and children, some of whom were related to or were under the care of the head abbot, or sayadaw.

One witness said the soldiers shouted “harsh, abusive words” at the monks while they were beating them. One monk who had tried to warn the monastery of the soldiers’ approach was beaten unconscious as he lay on the ground.

Another witness said the soldiers were led by a two-star general who beat some of the soldiers who were reluctant to harm the monks. The attack lasted about 90 minutes, ending when about 60 monks and 40 laypeople were tossed into waiting trucks and driven to an unknown destination.

Broken glass and monks’ robes could be seen scattered on the ground after the soldiers departed.

“The army stole everything from the monastery – cassette players, radios, money that had been donated, everything they could take,” one witness said.

Among the arrestees were the second chief of the monastery, Sayadaw U Uttama, and another senior sayadaw, U Dhammadainna. However, the head sayadaw, who is a member of the State Sangamahanayaka Committee, was meditating in a hidden location in the monastery at the time of the assault and escaped arrest, as did a number of monks who were able to flee the soldiers.

People in the neighbourhood around the monastery gathered in the compound at dawn, many of them breaking into tears when they saw the devastation the military had left behind.

“It’s impossible to believe that the government would brutalise the holy monks who represent our religion in this way,” one bystander said.

Reports from Rangoon also indicate that soldiers raided several monasteries around the Moe Gound Pagoda and the Maggin monastery in Thingyangyun which provides accomodation to people living with HIV and AIDS. The incidents are though to have greatly increased the ire of monks throughout the city.

“The government is not doing this for stability. This is sacrilege directed at the religion we believe in,” one Buddhist said.

Reporting by Maung Too and DVB correspondents.

Wegen der Behinderung westlicher Reporter durch das Militärregime ist die norwegische Internetseite der Democratic Voice of Burma eine der wenigen verlässlichen Quellen zu den Menschenrechtskämpfen in Burma: http://english.dvb.no/
Den hier abgedruckten Text entnahm ich dieser Website.(MR)