Sep 28, 2007 (DVB), Government security forces beat up and fired upon young students in front of a school during yesterday's brutal crackdown on large-scale protests in Rangoon, according to witnesses.

A group of students was marching from Pansodan bridge to the high school in Tamwe township, while many other students were inside the school compound. Soldiers and government guards fired automatic weapons into the air and at chest-level to prevent marching students from reaching the school.

"There were primary-grade students studying inside the school and some of them were hit as well," said one of the witnesses.

Parents waiting to collect their children from school were also among those hit by bullets.

"They also rammed a truck with its headlights on into a crowd of students before arresting them at gunpoint," said another witness, who stated that about 300 students were arrested in the crackdown.

"Teachers at the school had to take all the children and their parents inside the school building and give them shelter," the witness continued.

Reporting by DVB