United Press International
YANGON, Myanmar – A group of Buddhist monks ended a tense standoff with authorities Thursday in Myanmar by releasing 20 government officials they had taken hostage.
The situation at the monastery in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, began Thursday morning when the monks took a government delegation hostage as part of a protest against the nation’s economic policies, The Telegraph (Britain) reported.
The delegation had gone to the religious locale to apologize for a series of warning shots that federal soldiers shot over the monks’ heads during a protest Wednesday.
Soldiers also attacked a group of protesting monks with bamboo sticks and arrested 10 young monks during that same day.
When the delegation arrived at the monastery on Thursday, a group of young monks apparently took them hostage and the standoff began.
The British newspaper said that the hostage situation was resolved when a senior abbot convinced the monks to release the hostages.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International