The military junta in Burma is intensifying its two-day crackdown on the most vocal popular uprising against its rule in nearly two decades. Up to eight people have been killed over the last two days. There are now late-breaking reports Burmese troops have opened fired on a crowd of thousands assembled in central Rangoon. Military forces have also raided several monasteries, arresting an estimated 500 monks. On Wednesday, British Ambassador Mark Canning described the scene on the streets.

British Ambassador Mark Canning: “There were a series of arrests overnight of pro-democracy activists. A curfew has been announced from dusk to dawn starting this evening. And I think the question then was whether all these measures would intimidate people into not marching as they have been for the last eight days. And I think the answer is that it did not. There have been many thousands of people out on the streets again.”

Meanwhile, the exiled Burmese opposition leader Sein Win called for more international pressure on the junta.

Sein Win: “The military always don’t want to talk with others. They said this is their way, you know. So, they always did like that, in ’88, or also before ’88 also. They never negotiate. They look at all this as a kind of military operation. This is not a military operation; it is a political demonstration.”