Rangoon Residents: We'll Never Forget

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma

Residents of Rangoon told DVB that they will never forget the horrors they witnessed during the crackdown. Unfortunately, even as UN Envoy Professor Gambari makes a second trip to Asia, arrests are still ongoing in Burma. In fact, junta has now started widening its nets at leisure to include anyone who has been involved in the demonstrations, and in the case of prominent activists, their families.

A resident told DVB:
"All of us live in misery. No matter what we talk about, we'll end up discussing what has happened; the nights they sieged the monastries and beat the monks to death, it was chilling. There must be so many unappeased souls wandering about. We'll never forgive or forget. They've gone too far this time. Rangoon is like a godforsaken place now. It's not because of the curfew. We're all just so unhappy about what has happened. The old women keep crying. We've seen too much (cruelty)."

The man also said that there are few monks doing the morning alm-rounds, and that Buddhism has been almost wiped out.

"Religion is the basis of morals. It was Buddhism that prevented people from turning lawless. Now, it's almost like we don't have a religion anymore. So what is going to stop people from doing what they want?"

DVB also managed to get in touch with another resident who was detained in KyaiKaSan Race Cource Detention Centre, but has since been released. The man spoke on condition of anonymity:
"There was a family who stayed near the Pagoda. The whole family was arrested, including a little boy, about 6 years old. In the detention center, when they started beating the small boy up, people tried to stop them, and shield him from the blows. So they (pro-junta thugs) kept on beating these people the whole night. The little boy is still there. He's bound to be traumatised by the experience. He's so young, only in kindergarten."

For the original article in Burmese, please follow this link: http://burmese.dvb.no/news.php?id=2421