Troops launch night raids to intimidate activists

? After crushing the democracy uprising with guns, Myanmar’s junta stepped up its campaign to intimidate citizens Wednesday, sending troops to drag people from their homes in the middle of the night and letting others know they were marked for retribution.

People living near the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar’s most revered shrine and a flash point of unrest during the protests, reported that security forces swept through several dozen homes about 3 a.m., taking away many men and even some women for questioning.

Dozens of Buddhist monks jammed Yangon’s main train station after being ordered to vacate their monasteries – centers of the anti-government demonstrations – and told to go back to their hometowns and villages.

It was not clear who ordered them out.