NEW DELHI — As thousands of angry residents continued to pour onto the streets of Yangon in defiance of an official ban, Myanmar's military dictatorship tightened its clampdown Thursday on anti-government protests in a show of force that left at least nine people dead.
Among those killed in clashes in the nation's main city was a Japanese veteran war photographer who was shot while trying to capture images of the large-scale demonstrations that have offered the repressive ruling junta its most powerful challenge in nearly 20 years.
Witness accounts, television video and photographs beamed through cellphones around the world showed security forces with riot shields marching down Yangon's boulevards on the second day of an increasingly brutal crackdown. Security forces fired tear gas and warning shots from automatic weapons to disperse the crowds, which scurried for cover, leaving behind sandals in their haste and pools of blood where the face-off turned violent.
The spiraling unrest in the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, stoked fears of a repeat of a 1988 massacre of pro-democracy protesters in which an estimated 3,000 people were killed. It also sparked concern among bordering countries of growing instability on their doorstep, in a region that has seen its share of political chaos.
Even China, Myanmar's traditional ally, issued a rare public admonition to the country's military regime to proceed with caution, after having joined with Russia to block an official condemnation Wednesday by the United Nations.
"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated," Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing on Thursday.
A special U.N. envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, was expected to arrive soon in Myanmar, one of the world's most tightly controlled countries.
"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," President Bush said in a statement. He met Thursday with China's foreign minister, urging Beijing to use its influence in the region to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy in Myanmar.
As many as 70,000 people ignored government warnings to stay home and marched through the streets of Yangon, also known as Rangoon, for a 10th consecutive day of protests, according to news reports and dissident groups in exile.
