Nine killed in Burma protests

Soldiers in Burma opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters, killing at least nine people and injuring 11.

Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai, 50, working for APF News in Tokyo, died when thousands of chanting demonstrators, some throwing stones and water bottles, prompted a police charge.

It came amid a warning by the Burmese army of "extreme action" if marches continued, resulting in terrified protesters fleeing the streets of Rangoon, the former capital.

Military loudspeakers warned people would be shot if they did not disperse within "ten minutes". One man fell to the ground near the Sule Pagoda but it is not known if he had been shot or hit by a tear gas canister.

Soldiers advanced up the street away from the pagoda with their rifles at their sides while police banged their rattan riot shields with batons.

"It's a terrifying noise," one witness said. Others said the only people left on the streets were the odd pedestrian desperately scurrying for cover. More shots were fired near the main railway station in Rangoon, another witness said.

The protesters retreated to areas just north of the central district, where they played "cat and mouse" with the soldiers and occasional shots were fired.

Monks have been central to the uprising, sparked by a huge rise in fuel prices last month. At least 500 of the holy men were taken away in army trucks on Thursday after the junta raided monasteries, breaking down doors and ransacking rooms.

One witness said: "It's like a living hell seeing the monasteries raided and the monks treated cruelly."

Earlier in the morning, security forces set up barbed-wire barricades at major junctions in central Yangon and sealed off the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's holiest shrine and starting point for the past week's protests.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Burmese exiles and British human rights campaigners demanded an end to the "murderous repression" at a demonstration in London.

Gathering outside Burma's embassy in Mayfair, they waved banners, chanted slogans, sang protest songs and prayed for peace.

Many wore red headbands emblazoned with the golden fighting peacock, a symbol of the Burmese democracy movement.

In the US, President George Bush urged all nations which have influence with the regime to support the aspirations of the Burmese people and to call for an end to the violence.

He said: "The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals.

"We feel admiration and compassion for the monks and peaceful protesters calling for democracy.

"Every civilised nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime like the one that has ruled Burma for too long."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.