The latest news from Burma is, once again, worse. The BBC Burmese service reports that security services raided several monasteries in Rangoon on Thursday morning. At least three monasteries were attacked and about 700 monks and civilians were arrested. These included the Abbot and four senior monks of Maggin monastery, which has become a refuge for HIV & AIDS patients since the uprising started. Two of these senior monks were over 80 years old. The extent of the violence at the Ngway Kyar Yan monastery in South Okkalapa township was so severe that later in the day, hundreds of thousands of local people surrounded the security forces, demanding the release of the monks. But the people of Rangoon continued to protest, despite these arrests. Security forces attempted to disperse as many as 70,000 people who were gathered near Sule Pagoda on Thursday afternoon. As a result, nine people were killed in Rangoon according to official state media. (If those are the official figures, you have to wonder how much worse the true death toll might be.) One of the dead is reported to be a Japanese journalist, which may make for an interesting diplomatic incident. The soldiers in Rangoon are, by the way, Light Infantry Division 77 - remember, the ones I told you about yesterday, who have been ordered to shave their heads and wear monks' robes? Appalling.
There is still hope. The Guardian reports that Burmese exiles in Thailand said some soldiers had formed a group called the Public Patriotic Army Association to declare their support for the monks and opposition to the military junta. If true, soldiers are being asked to stand alongside the people rather than against them. This... could make the conflict rather different.