Security troops cracked down on the anti-government protests Wednesday, using batons, tear gas and bullets against thousands of Buddhist monks and their supporters who were trying to enter the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

Witnesses said police and soldiers beat demonstrators and used tear gas twice to disperse the crowd. Dozens were injured and five persons were reportedly killed, as police fired warning shots and arrested more than 80 protesters.

The government warned the monks to cease their protests or will have to face reprisals, but the saffron-robbed rebellion continued for the ninth consecutive day and nearly 10,000 monks matched towards the Sule Pagoda.

Government troops were waiting for demonstrators there and pushed them back using shields and baton charges, local sources said.

Hundreds of troops have been deployed to Yangon late Tuesday, the military junta being determined to crush the protesters into submission once again. A dozen trucks carrying security forces arrived at City Hall Tuesday night in the wake of renewed demonstrations.

The military regime threatened to imprison even those who are caught watching the protest marches, but monks defied the iron-fisted regime and continued their barefoot marches.

The Sule Pagoda, in downtown Yangon, was turned into a fortress with hundreds of police and military personnel surrounding the compound early Wednesday. Over the past week, monks gathered at the pagoda and staged peaceful protests against the military-led government.

On Wednesday, the monks pledged to meet at the Shwedagon Pagoda and march towards the central Sule Pagoda regardless of the imminent confrontation with government forces. The troops attacked monks and their followers several times at the central pagoda, witnesses saying shots were fired and caused panic among protesters, who ran scared for cover.

In the agitation several were trampled by those behind them, witnesses saying the shots wreaked havoc and people ran for their lives. Eventually, the monks began returning to their monasteries and the protests dispersed in the afternoon.

Human rights groups asked countries neighbouring Myanmar to step in and prevent another bloodshed in the country’s largest city.

“The Burmese military has shown in the past a willingness to kill peaceful protestors to end demonstrations,” said Brad Adams, the Human Rights Watch program director for Asia.

“If the military government is going to listen to anyone, it will be countries with which it has close military and economic ties. Now is the time for these countries to show that they care about the health and welfare of the Burmese people.”

The protests began on September 18 and people began joining the monks’ marches throughout the past week after the junta refrained from cracking down on the demonstrations.

Nearly 100,000 people marched Monday and Tuesday, but the large gatherings determined the junta to quell the uprising and spill blood once again. Nearly two decades ago pro-democracy demonstrations ended with a bloodbath, as army forces indiscriminately opened fire on protesters and killed up to 3,000 people.

Another bloody confrontation is looming after the hospitals in Yangon were advised to prepare for an influx of patients and authorities imposed a curfew in the city for 60 days.

The protest action were sparked by skyrocketing fuel prices and inflation, the government being accused of being unable to tilt up the ailing economy and imposing unnecessary radical measures.

The impoverished people expressed their discontent publicly for the first time on August 19, when activists took to the streets of Yangon. Police forces quelled the protests immediately through violent actions and numerous arrests.

But the protest was continued by monks and authorities refrained from clamping down on the highly respected Buddhist monkhood.