The desperate Burmese dictatorship has shut down public internet access in the country today in an attempt to cut off reports of the violent crackdown on democracy campaigners.

Footage and eyewitness accounts have fuelled the international outcry and piled pressure on the regime to stand down. The UN has sent special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to monitor events on its behalf.

According to Reuters, phones at the only ISP in Burma are not being answered. London blogger Ko Htike wrote: "I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the internet connection throughout the country. I therefore would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality."

As we noted yesterday, however, plenty of information on the monks' uprising and the military response still seems to be escaping Burma via other channels. Foreign embassies have access to their own internet connections, for example. ®

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