Protests against Myanmar's military regime continued Thursday on the streets of the country's largest city after government troops raided several monasteries before dawn and arrested dozens of Buddhist monks.

Despite a violent crackdown launched by the military junta, thousands of people continued to defy the iron-fisted regime and marched through the streets of Yangon on Thursday.

Approximately 10,000 people gathered near the central Sule Pagoda to express their discontent over soaring fuel prices and repeated human rights violations, facing out hundreds of security troops deployed around the temple.

The police warned them to stay away and break up the protest, a verbal warning that was followed by shots fired over the heads of the demonstrators. Panic quickly spread among the crowd and people began running for cover through the streets.

The non-profit media organization based in Norway, Democratic Voice of Burma said Thursday that a Japanese photo-journalist had been shot dead by soldiers as he tried to get through a blockade.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency confirmed the report, saying a journalist has been killed neat the Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon.

Four other people were reportedly killed, all being monks who were beaten to death. The number of casualties couldn’t be verified after chaos gripped the former capital. Observers said another bloodbath is looming after the junta decided to violently crush the peaceful protests.

“There are people willing to shoot and people willing to die,” a diplomat characterized the dramatic situation which threatens to snowball into a nationwide uprising.

Protests erupted in several other areas of the city. Nearly 1,000 people in South Okkalapa township attacked an army truck with stones and only several tear gas canisters were able to push them back.

The rage-driven people attacked the soldiers after troops raided the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery early Thursday and arrested dozens of monks. Several monks and the highly-respected abbot were viciously beaten by soldiers who surrounded the monastery before dawn.

Eyewitnesses said an army commander beat some of his soldiers after they refused to attack the revered monks. Scuffles between soldiers and locals took place when the troops tried to enter the monastery and detain monks.

Security forces raided several other monasteries on Yangon’s outskirts, arresting more than 100 monks. Witnesses said monks were severely beaten and dragged out of their monasteries, the troops taking them to an undisclosed location.

The pre-dawn raids were aimed at preventing monks from staging new protest marches and indeed monks stayed away from the demonstration Thursday after others were detained and maltreated.

But the government’s reprehensible measures sparked the people’s rage, who blocked roads and fought with soldiers.

“It is impossible to believe that the government would brutalize the holy monks … this is sacrilege to the religion we believe in,” a resident who witnessed the arrests said.

On Wednesday, the junta decided it won’t tolerate the protests anymore and began a violent crackdown on monks and their followers. Using tear gas, baton charges and even bullets, the troops dispersed the protesters after several hours.

Reports said at least five people were killed and dozens injured in clashes. Some were trampled by people running scared when security forces opened fire on the crowd around the Sule Pagoda.

Again the authorities denied the reports, a government mouthpiece, New Light of Myanmar, claiming that the clashes were sparked by protesters throwing stones at the security officers.

“On account of the unavoidable circumstances, the members of the security forces fired some shots employing the least force to disperse the mob,” the state-run newspaper claimed.

An impressive number of troops were deployed in key areas of Yangon and blocked cordoned of several sites Thursday morning, including the Shwedagon Pagoda and Bogyoke Street. The sites were the main gathering point for protesters over the past nine days.