burmese riot police attack monks

The retaliation has started - peaceful chanting versus violence. The heart grieves for what is unfolding:

Burmese riot police attack monks

Monks brandished flags as they carried on the protests

Several thousand Burmese monks and other protesters have begun new marches in Rangoon despite a bloody crackdown by police at the city's holiest shrine.

Police beat and arrested demonstrators at Shwedagon Pagoda and warning shots were fired at another site as a ninth day of marching got under way.

One march started for the city centre while another headed for the home of opposition head Aung San Suu Kyi.

......A number of the monks and nuns were left covered in blood and appeared to be seriously injured, and some shots were also heard, witnesses say.

"The riot police started to beat up the monks," one monk at Shwedagon Pagoda told the BBC.

"We were peacefully chanting prayers. They used tear gas and some monks were hit. Some monks were injured."

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Update: Burma's bloggers are using the internet to beat censorship, and tell the world what is happening under the military junta's veil of secrecy ::link