Tear gas used against Myanmar protesting monks

Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar fired tear gas yesterday to break up a protest of around 1,000 Buddhist monks and civilian demonstrators. Buddhist monks staged protest marches in at least two cities, including Yangon and Sittwe, in Myanmar...

Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar fired tear gas yesterday to break up a protest of around 1,000 Buddhist monks and civilian demonstrators. Buddhist monks staged protest marches in at least two cities, including Yangon and Sittwe, in Myanmar yesterday, the day a reported religious boycott of members of the ruling military junta and their associates was due to start.

Three or four monks were arrested as the crowd scattered and were hit and slapped, a witness told Reuters.

The march in Sittwe started with 500 Buddhist monks but grew quickly as ordinary men and women - some of them Muslims - joined in.

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