YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators Thursday as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's main city braved a crackdown that has drawn international appeals for restraint by the ruling military junta.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that five men were arrested and severely beaten after soldiers fired into a crowd near a bridge across the Pazundaung River on the east side of downtown Yangon.

Shots were fired after several thousand protesters on the west side of the river ignored orders to disband.

In other parts of the city, thousands of protesters ran through the streets after warning shots were fired into crowds that had swollen to 70,000. Bloody sandals were left lying in the road.

Witnesses said at least one man had been shot, though the guns did not appear to be aimed directly at the massive crowd that gathered at Sule Pagoda. Japan's Kyodo News agency said Myanmar's Foreign Ministry had told the Japanese Embassy that a Japanese citizen had been killed.

Japan's Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said that officials were trying to confirm the report and that no other details could be released.

According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, several people were hit by stray bullets fired by soldiers, and one of them - a person who appeared to be a photographer - was carrying a Japanese passport.