150 Die in Burma Protests; U.S. Considers Aid Cutoff : Bodies Lie in Streets of Rangoon

Soldiers of the new Burmese military government fired on Buddhist monks, students and thousands of other peaceful demonstrators, reportedly killing about 150 since Sunday night.

In Washington, the Reagan Administration said it was reviewing assistance programs to Burma that total $14 million annually to determine whether aid should be cut off in light of the coup and violence.

“The United States urges Burmese military authorities immediately to cease shooting at demonstrators and calls upon those demonstrating to refrain from provocative actions,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

Bodies in Streets

In Rangoon, the bodies of the dead and wounded lay stretched out on the streets and could not be evacuated immediately because of heavy gunfire.

Opposition leaders vowed to fight on for democracy.

Residents also reported clashes in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, and the towns of Pyinmana, Prome and Pegu.

Witnesses and other reports said about 150 people, including 17 soldiers, have been killed in Rangoon and elsewhere across Burma since Sunday night, when military commander Saw Maung overthrew civilian President Maung Maung in a military coup. Maung Maung’s whereabouts remain unknown.

A Western diplomat familiar with Burma said from Bangkok, Thailand: “We’re into possibly one of the final acts now . . . a naked confrontation with the army. . . . Either the students win or the army wins.”

Enforcing a Ban

The soldiers were trying to enforce a ban on public gatherings imposed immediately after the coup by Saw Maung, the defense minister before the coup and a right-hand man of former President Sein Lwin. Sein Lwin resigned Aug. 12 after riots in which hundreds of protesters reportedly died.

Reports indicated that soldiers in Rangoon shot at mostly unarmed protesters near the main government administrative building, the U.S. Embassy, Sule Pagoda and Rangoon General Hospital. An Asian diplomat said 67 people were admitted today at Rangoon General Hospital.

Witnesses said corpses were taken away by military trucks while residents dragged some of the dead and wounded into their houses or put them in three-wheeled taxis to be taken to hospitals.

Mob on the Attack

Military spokesman Kyaw Sann said the clashes began Sunday night when “the violent mob attacked security forces with catapults and jinglees (metal darts) and the troops had to disperse the mob by shooting in many parts of the town.”

Kyaw Sann said crowds today raided two police stations, stealing rifles, pistols and ammunition. There were reports that protesters, some carrying swords, spears and crossbows, were taking the weapons of fallen soldiers.

Troops used cranes and forklifts to clear roadblocks that demonstrators had erected. Witnesses said one boy was killed and six people were wounded when troops fired on youths while trying to remove a tree that had been used as a barrier.

“Many students are being mowed down. Can’t anything be done?” a reporter asked by telephone from the scene of one confrontation before beginning to cry.

Monks Shot Down

Witnesses said they also saw two monks fall to the ground after being hit by bullets near Sule Pagoda.

In the last month, strikes, demonstrations, looting and lawlessness have paralyzed the economy and pushed the nation to the verge of anarchy. Saw Maung in a statement to Radio Rangoon vowed to restore order and to “hold general elections under a multiparty system” at an unspecified later date.