Myanmar Journal: Captives at the Dhamma Hall
The following thread is being written by a vipassana meditator from the tradition of S.N. Goenka who is currently in Myanmar, who has played a pivotal role in the organization’s mission. For his safety, personal details have been obscured, but he has made it his desire that his observations be read by meditators everywhere.
Last night was hell but today its even worse than that. I have zero information about the rest of the country but here in my place it is absolute bedlam. At around 10 am this morning a lot of gunshots about 100 yards outside of our quarter. Police arrested 5 people from out Quarter. The anger is at this point difficult for anyone to contain. Everywhere you try to go in our area of Yangon you are prevented from doing so because all roads have been barricaded by the citizenry. The main road that borders our Quarter has been heavily barricaded. At one end are 4 large trucks and two deep blocking the road. At the other end it is blocked with dumpsters and concrete. I have no idea what other parts of Yangon are like but I would expect much the same.
As I sit here all I can hear are people shouting and screaming. We are told that the police are coming in this afternoon and everyone is preparing.
Suddenly a lot of shouting and desperate screams in front of my apartment. Just as suddenly everyone is pouring into the street. Three 5,000 kyat people have been spotted in our quarter.
Now they have caught one and they are searching for the two others. The guy they caught has been placed under citizens arrest and he had with him a large, open knife.
More shouting. A tightly packed angry mob of a hundred people or so has gathered 40 yards or so from my apartment. I don’t need to be told that a 2nd one is in the middle of the mob. I now hear people furiously shouting not to hurt him but they are VERY ANGRY.
Sure enough they have caught the 2nd guy and he is also under citizen’s arrest. Both guys are being held in the Dhamma Hall at the end of my road.
More shouting and now clapping and again the angry mob has gathered and no doubt the third guy is in the middle of them.
Again calls not to hurt him and sure enough the 3rd guy has been caught.
In the past when they have been caught in our quarter they have been turned over to the police who in minutes just release them. This time I am told they will be held as prisoners and not turned over to the police.
In the past these guys have been questioned and they are so afraid that they just spill their guts. In every situation I know of they have been hired by the police or the military for a small amount of cash and drugs. It is a common theme that when caught everyone comments on their eyes and how crazy they look. I would guess that this is because of the amphetamines they are on. It is common that when caught they have drugs on them. I have watched on taped interrogation and this guy could hardly speak because he was so afraid. The guys questioning them kept reassuring them that they would not be hurt. True to their word, after getting information from them and going through their phone logs they were released to the police. They weren’t 20 feet away from where they turned over to the police and were then released by the police.
The tension here is so great I really believe I feel it in the air. It is an ugly, ugly situation. I will walk down to where these guys are being held and see what I can find out. I hope they have not been harmed but if they have been I can understand. The anger has been brewing for a month now and everyone has their breaking point.
There are now thousands on the street at the southern edge of our Quarter. They continue to reinforce and build new barricades.
Myself, I am so frustrated that there isn’t more I can do to help but people on my road seem to understand. The feeling of helplessness is painful but I think everyone is feeling the same thing. Today for the first time I have heard people express disappointment and even anger that the countries they were counting on for help have essentially abandoned them by doing nothing more than slapping the Generals on the wrist. Someone needs to step in because I feel strongly that this is going to turn into a major bloodbath. Today there has just been so much shooting and many ambulances going by with sirens blaring. I can confirm that by noon today 4 people have been killed and it is thought that there will be many more as the afternoons and evenings tend to be the worst.
Still there is a large crowd in front of Dhamma Hall. I am told that there are 3 different groups try to determine the fate of the 3 caught. Sad. I am trying to locate a friend of mine to go down there and try to calm things down.
From the sounds alone I can hear that the crowds have swelled out on the main street. Just heard that there are still no police. I am going to guess that they are trying to get some bulldozers to clear the barricades before they move in. Only a guess. What we have seen so far is that they don’t usually advance without backup behind them in trucks and right now trucks cannot get through.
My wife is now at the Dhamma Hall trying to calm people down but apparently she is not having much success. People are very angry and tempers are flaring.