is underway and saturday's general election in ireland results are expected to cause a major political change exit polls show the republican party champagne is in a tie with the 2 center right parties that have dominated irish politics for decades but the ruling in a gale and tina fey or both ruling out any type of coalition which in fame syrian regime forces have taken control of several villages in the north west the soldiers are advancing in the southern part of aleppo province along 2 major highways offensive could open up a direct route to rubble held areas western aleppo and it live. and those are the headlines keep it here on al-jazeera up next al-jazeera rewind inside me and mar the crackdown.

al-jazeera. hello and welcome to rewind here at their house museum of islamic well the 1st story as we have it was the main ma government's brutal crackdown on peacefully protesting monks news reaching the outside world was guest spots al-jazeera correspondent tony was able to film the unfolding events whilst working undercover

as one of the few international journalists on the ground at that time from 2007 here's his news special inside myanmar the crackdown. it started as a protest over a few subsidies it became a popular uprising against the generals and their policy of oppression. throughout me and my hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets calling for freedom and democracy such gatherings hadn't been seen here for nearly 20 years. the focal point was the former capital gang gone at one stage 100000 people demonstrated. and then he does it with the monks man of peace by god they became the rallying point for a nation worship and followed by my name is tony burke and i was one of the few

journalists and young then to witness the uprising and the brutal crackdown by the i. mean she. was the world was moved by scenes like these but being down there on the streets among the thousands you could see the spirit and feel the exhilaration of ordinary people who believe they could throw off the yoke of military rule was that i was. i was. i well you get democracy was it was because if i was going to have the many people. he was yes you would know democracy here you know democracy. you know democracy free to go you know do what i know you're not all the way we want them over that you know that well i really don't do it as

a government was understand me you know it was they were shooting here before that little have you broken up with anyone anyone hurt anyone hurt was thinking was. there is going here that moving forward inch by inch and they seem to be testing the military the standing over there with their guns ready to anyone's guess what's going to happen i was just the 2nd group of months we wanted a force that would disperse by the army not to go to confront mercy essentially was a photo where the 2nd was the symbols was going on was a direct defiance. was. i. was. for a little while nothing happened the ranks of the protesters swelled they became bolder was.

that it wasn't to last. friday then i thought you know. my all these people in total told you anything you want to say. finding more than 5 people gathering at any one place now the army and the right place aligning up there now and now seeing for people to disperse all the while moving seems as if the start of the crackdown is now beginning thank you you're. already there. more than playboy's if i wasn't there for good ok. this is with 510 who are. coming over it will. do just just the b.b.c. it will say 10 minutes then your leader very much.

me. time to pick up. i. think i got. 5 minutes she said oh it is not the public responding i think it is pretty things they tend to put. thank. you. thank you. in 1988 the military killed more than 3000. democracy demonstrators that hadn't been forgotten and it wasn't long before shots were being filed like i was i. was $100.00 pounds but it was it is going to start out i was

a bad actor i was out of how do i am i said i want to hate on course because it takes you in the movie maybe i won't because things are moving 5 people think ok we'll tell you to please heading directly now to the silly photos i committed real bang i think i was writing i was tearing my sink i think it was i army and police fired tear gas rubber bullets and live rounds did it thank you. thank you thank you thank you thank you. thank you. i was.

i think i was. in the shadow of the shwedagon pagoda the monks gathered as it turned out for one last time i they had megaphones to shout out their message for peace and calm they were faced by soldiers with braised rifles and band that i knew i. was i was monks who tried to keep a tense situation calm i months and begged the police and soldiers for restraint. i normally would just go on the knees before monks there was no pretense of respect any longer thank you thank you thank ye i was

some of the scenes of never being dead before i could shows how ruthless the security forces were i mean miles foreign minister had told the un security council the police and army exercise restraint i the scenes prove. i. i was was

was was was was a was a i mean i i thank ye was incredibly. some months before but i was i i i i of those escaped join the confusion.

i. was home and you know my was security forces responded with tear gas i. 7 i i i i i i. i. i was i was. i was clashes broke out all over the city volleys of shots were fired around us and over our heads i. 7 i i i. i. was sure. i i was home and you know my god i think you know. the army rapid response units made lightning sweeps. i.

was sure. it was. going to be almost coming you know but now you walk things got hard and i think. i was going to go ok missing for a while there they had signs saying we are monks. starting a very fast. maybe they stopped. i. here i filmed while i walked through the middle of the soldiers as they beat and arrested civilians thank you. i kept on walking but eventually i was grabbed and hold back. in the confusion i managed to get away with my camera. at the height of the crackdown something like $15000.00 troops

and riot police arrest a makeshift of being on the streets the government has admitted they killed 10 people including a japanese photographer observers belief far more died but it is impossible to say for sure. i really don't know where all this is heading to i've just witnessed the arrest about 8 or 9 young men who were trying to confront the army the army rather rapidly they responded arrest them cut them off beat them a little bit and then we're taking their documentation. i saw them paraded through the streets i was trying to film not very successfully because they say you're filming we're going to take your camera very where what happened to the japanese photographer so it's a bit risky so you hear from everything from a distance very served to. people here living at ground every single day of their life and they got front row seats they turn out never can isn't what i was filming sneakily through looking at me and smiling at you having

a degree of bombs in the air. thousands of people were arrested during the night time curfews and the streets were finally under the control of the military. we used secret cameras to record what was happening to avoid detection you constantly change hats and shirts never stay too long in one place and always check to see if you are being followed. a few people have said to me here that these protests and not yet finished a month told me that as a young people but the stranglehold by the police and the military is so restricting that it's very difficult for anyone to move about let alone gather for mass in a kind of numbers that we've seen in the past few days. terry do. what situation are people talking about spies everywhere they're worried to be seen with a foreigner very concerned about what's going to happen the still the heart if you still say they're prepared to brave the bullets in a battle they will have to say. the army is in control of all the main shrines in

monasteries few monks could be seen on the streets hard to imagine in a city where there are something like 75000 monks. i think protest of the national. or you think there will happen again. we don't have to spend a long time and what we don't know and they will. be down and began. soldiers and police are reviled here despised by many civilians for being the tool of the military hunter who's deprives them of basic human rights you wonder how they can ever be reconciliation here. they can do without it the dire social and economic problems which plague this once prosperous country and which provoked the 1st demonstrations still exist visible

prominent affecting millions of people. there are a lot of the country and these monetary systems show. the statistics sometimes nontraditional worse and. they. all move numbers suggest musician rates broadly around 35 percent. we know that it's actually much more severe a number of blood ties it's so i think where scraping the surface actually is me. me i'm aspens less on health and education per person than any other country in the world. parts of north korea. is quite amazing here when i used to be a capital city. this is not even in the suburbs a short way from the city center you got some poverty and very very basic

conditions here but even so all the people here seem to smile where they seem to be kind of happy i wouldn't say content but there is a gentleness about these people that makes the situation around here even more difficult to comprehend and make sure a little bit angry i suppose seeing how they live and how difficult things are they want the basic fundamental rights that many people in the world enjoy and has been denied to vote for so long. and can be will be denied them for well. everywhere you turn there is poverty and hardship here. but not for everyone. so just try to film some big modern luxurious houses and such a contrast to what i've been seeing around the city in young gone the slums the policy the conditions the sanitation this is really something special.

about i want to sing those 4 men. on the construction site how much they're getting in comparison to people in those houses so going to those houses something that probably would cost about $3400000.00 which is an awful lot of money in this country where the average wage is something like a dollar dollar 50 a day and that's if you're lucky enough to. hire you high unemployment you know because no statistics because the government doesn't release them but some of the people without a lot of people need help people suffering hardship and. a climate of fear invades everything here people are being detained in a number of centers a young gone including at insein prison. many i spoke to feel the treatment of the monks may in the end turn out to be the general's biggest mistake you know where

where on that front although they are in the position but if you look at. the my right foot you. know this is the worst i've got over a lot of what was in the law. about. that now finish protest finish your thought on little you know hope you will never forget my. little son that. who knows how many have been killed and imprisoned we may never know it's very difficult to get or have a precise number. the authorities are putting out any press releases they did admit to 10 but most people suspect that there's far more of them are that have been killed or in terms of arrest i'm sure it's in the bosnians bomber all these arrests started the road august alone. from what we

understand every night often for if he is going to start trouble going wrong the city will picking up more people. bob why barricades are still around the city and across the road leading to the home of the suci who has lived under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years the monks lead is a gone left behind of the young and the old and what the military may think ineffectual but the air of resistance remains here. mostly not afraid not afraid and they say in the months to go when they come out on a street when they come people in the who got to step up to one of them are they come back to strange protests in the nuts not afraid not every would

shoot shoot shoot and fight. and strike. who's. with the people the people follow them uncle and all of them including my. eyes of the better and monk. and you you you will come out of ministry to me you will. i think. you're probably going. to say show protest not finished another initiative. for sure your. son walking up the road now to the trade. dan pagoda this is about the 1st time in a week we're going to do this before the roads were blockaded with crude wooden and barbed wire devices behind which were armed police and it's impossible to pass this is one of the symbols of the resistance from the monks and the police and the army wanted to stop that but now it's open and i suppose that's now indicative that the

generals the military junta have got the situation under control to their liking that there. has got a degree of security now that no one else will come out and protest i suppose this marks the opening of this road map to the fact that this protest this uprising for democracy in short that spirited is probably over now. those streets saw the violent protests are now empty of monks for a very brief time they carried the spirit of a nation seeking justice and human rights and they have paid a terrible price and no matter what political agreements a made what dialogue is following it's a price which will never be forgotten by the people of myanmar. a remarkable rack hold of advance which helped hasten the end of military role inside man maher verma gregor is a journalist who's written extensively on manama over the last few years and she joins us now via skype from yang gone really fantastic to speak to thanks for joining us here on rewind to what extent did those protests that we saw in tony

these reports pave the way for the end of military will and unsung suchi becoming to fact anita i think we have to remember the military is still a huge group here and. 81925 percent in the parliament and i think it is fertile a member there's a lot of questions as to how much control. those who actually has but how does that improve the lives of people given that they bow got the democracy they crave for has that come with them proved sounds of living i think it depends very much i think. for more than a modicum of her i mean it's her very beginning that her even where. to bring peace. and bring about a constitutional change the military actually has a veto over really the constitution. and they're still in the

border areas particularly. and they don't seem recently and it's in conflicts in train see. this is an issue in the reply. to these are only really has written with the military very much tell me what happens there and he was saying earlier that the military still retains an awful lot of control in the areas outside of yangon shan state in iraq hina of course the rangar issue is huge today an unsung city comes under a lot of criticism for not doing more to protect the writing of people. but hobson and maybe you'll correct me aaron tell me a bit more about it perhaps she doesn't how that control in that area. said she i think most people would say that she has very little control over the people in the middle. you know they are very very teeing her in it you know teach them in the

streets and very far here. are incredibly poor and she says i don't do it anyone really believes she stops them acting i mean they want if. there is something. happening. ever whether she could speak or move or it in general like it's human rights it's. mainly. our. but in it we know. it is.

just committed to the voluntary safe and dignified to patrick of displaced persons from a con under the framework agreement reached between bunda dish and. mr president how can there be an ongoing genocide or genocide or intent and these conscript steps are being taken into account.

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this is 0. and i'm can but al this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes china's government on the defensive france the coronavirus death toll surpasses the sols numbers that traumatized the nation 17 years ago. information emerges about the motions of a thai soldier who went on a shooting rampage killing 26 people. eagerly awaiting election results a vote counting begins in ireland's closely for selection plus. term. facing the.