Myanmar troops used batons, tear gas and bullets Wednesday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and layman protestors out of Yangon's holiest shrines in a confrontation between rifles and rust-coloured robes that claimed at least five lives. Police and soldiers at barricades beat monks and laymen back from the east gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda with batons and tear gas twice Wednesday afternoon, leaving at least five people dead, including monks, DPA quoted a former high-level government official as saying. At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.
