Fears of more violence in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Crowds defied a brutal crackdown to take to the streets of Myanmar again Friday reports said as graphic new video footage showed government troops using deadly force on protesters.

Authorities also cut Internet connections, according to The Associated Press, in severing a vital information link that has been used to digitally smuggle images of the violent suppression out of the secretive state.

The AFP news agency reported that police had launched baton charges against a crowd of 10,000 demonstrators gathered in the center of Myanmar's main city, Yangon.

The latest incidents came a day after soldiers with automatic rifles fired into crowds of anti-government demonstrators, reportedly killing at least nine people in the bloodiest day in more than a month of protests demanding an end to military rule.

With tough controls over foreign journalists reporting on the situation, details from inside Myanmar were sketchy. Both opposition and official Web sites that have been a major source of information showed few updates Friday.

A resident of Yangon, who did not wish to give his name in order to protect his identity, told CNN that police in Yangon had announced on loudspeakers that no one was allowed to leave their houses after midday.

Friday's restrictions came after the government had imposed a curfew the night before and banned gatherings of more than five people, the U.S. Embassy said. At 6 p.m. Thursday, streets that had been jammed with as many as 100,000 protesters were deserted, an American witness said.

The opposition Web site, irrawaddy.org reported that demonstrators had gathered in front of a major hotel around noon on Friday to start a peaceful march. A large number of soldiers have been positioned around Sule Pagoda -- the site of previous clashes with government forces.

The Democratic Voice of Burma (Myanmar) reported that many privately-owned weekly news journals in Myanmar had decided to stop publication in protest of official demands to publish pro-government propaganda.

According to the DVB, authorities are ordering the publications to print articles written by state media and other stories blaming the All Burma Student's Democratic Front and the National League for Democracy for the protests.

The opposition National League for Democracy party won general elections in 1990, but the military refused to honor the results and has kept the party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, 2000 to 2002, and then from May 2003 to now.

DVB also released video on Friday that appeared to show someone being shot at close range in Yangon a day earlier. The person flies backward into the street as shots ring out and the crowd scatters.

According to state media, nine people were killed on Thursday. The victims include a Japanese news photographer.

Witnesses' reports of other deaths, including a university student shot in the head, could not be confirmed. The Democratic Voice of Burma (Myanmar) reported the same incident.

In another account of Thursday's violence, at least 10 people were shot in Yangon, said Aung Zaw, editor in chief of the opposition Web site Irrawaddy.org. CNN could not independently confirm the reports.

Gunfire broke out Thursday afternoon when troops confronted thousands of demonstrators who had marched from Yangon's center to its eastern Tamwe township, Irrawaddy.org reported. Two forces of troops sealed the huge crowds off and then opened fire, the report said.

Witnesses told CNN's Dan Rivers on Thursday that security forces fired warning shots and tear gas near two major pagodas in Yangon's city center.

Meanwhile, on its state-run Web site, the government offered its own account of its response to the protests.

According to the government, security officials were provoked into violence after their attempts to peacefully disperse the crowd failed.

Brig. Gen. Thura Myint Maung called on senior monks to rein in the protests. Buddhist monks were at the forefront of the demonstrations before government forces surrounded their temples and monasteries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu urged the government of Myanmar to show restraint in dealing with the protesters.

"China has paid great attention to the situation in Myanmar and we hope that all concerned parties of Myanmar show restraint and properly handle the current issue," she said Thursday, according China's Xinhua news agency.

Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Thursday, "The Burmese government has got to stop thinking that this can be solved by police and military and start thinking about the need for some genuine reconciliation with the broad spectrum of political activists in the country." E-mail to a friend

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