Eyewitness: Rangoon protests

A British tourist was in Burma's main city, Rangoon, on Wednesday as anti-government protesters clashed with police. He told the BBC what he saw.

Mr Farley and his wife were on holiday in Burma

Stephen Farley described the scenes he witnessed in Burma's commercial heart as "surreal".

The former Royal Marine was in Rangoon with his wife, Pat, for a holiday when the demonstrations began to gather momentum.

It was on Wednesday morning, on the walk back from visiting the British Embassy to check safety advice, that he felt the mood on the streets around him starting to change.

"Small groups of people were suddenly getting bigger," he said. "People were coming from all directions, and the groups were expanding like blotting paper."

He followed the crowds as they headed along a main road towards Shwedagon Pagoda, the golden stupa that has been one of the focal points for the protests.

At a crossroads near the pagoda, a young Burmese man encouraged him to get up on an overhead bridge for a better view.

"It was a general theme - people were wanting you to see what was happening and photograph it," he said.

He took pictures and shot video footage from the bridge as events unfolded.

Warning shots

A growing crowd of people - about 3,000 in total, he estimated - lined the way for a small group of marching monks.

People sat down as troops barred the way to Shwedagon Pagoda

Ahead, a chain of about 30 police barred the road to the pagoda. Another line of police stood behind them. Down a different street, riot police carrying shields were waiting, he said.

As the monks approached, people in the crowd - the majority of whom were young - began clapping and cheering.

The monks approached the police and stood there, praying. Many people in the crowd sat down in the road.

The situation stayed like this for about 10 minutes, Mr Farley said, and then, as people began to leave, police started moving in from behind the crowd in trucks.

"Everyone started to run and warning shots were fired from the lorries," he said. There were between three and five gunshots, he said, their aim apparently to disperse the crowds.

"I hadn't heard gunfire since I was in the marines," he said. "Everybody on the bridge got on the floor."

'Sticks and bricks'

He left and went back to his hotel, where he saw another confrontation.

The troops formed a line in front of the pagoda

Police were trying to herd a crowd - a mixture of about 20 young monks and other people - along a road away from the pagoda.

"The crowd turned on the troops and started throwing sticks and bricks," he said.

They showed real anger, he said, and the troops got back into their lorries and went.

He did not witness any of the beatings that have been reported by other eyewitnesses, but he said that it was obvious that tensions were high.

"I had a sense that I was seeing the start of something," he said.