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| The Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon was a rallying point for pro-democracy activists in 1988. On Sunday, thousands of monks, and
nuns (in pink), gathered to pray at the site. AFP/Getty Images/NEWSCOM |
Protests swell against Burma's military regime
Nuns and others joined the Buddhist monks in Sunday's marches against the ruling junta.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the September 24, 2007 edition
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BANGKOK, THAILAND - A protest movement led by Buddhist monks chanting prayers is gathering momentum in Burma (Myanmar), leaving an embattled military regime stranded in a groundswell of popular frustration at economic and political stagnation.
Maroon-robed monks led a sixth successive day of peaceful marches Sunday through the streets of Rangoon, the commercial capital. The Alliance of Burmese Buddhist Monks, an underground organization, has called on Burmese citizens to join hands in national protests Monday, in what observers say would represent another major escalation of a movement that began last month after a steep hike in fuel prices.
Until now, thousands of onlookers have cheered the monks, but few have dared to join in. That could change, as could the attitude of security forces, who cracked down hard on student-led protests two weeks ago but appear reluctant to confront the clergy, who command widespread respect in an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation. Activists say the escalating crisis echoes similar events in 1988, before the Army unleashed a bloody repression similar to that seen in Tiananmen Square in Beijing the following year.
"The highest moral authority is taking the leading role and that's very important. We may not have to wait much longer to see another people's uprising," says Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National Council for the Union of Burma, which is based in Thailand.
About 10,000 monks and lay people marched Saturday in Mandalay, among the biggest turnouts so far, the Associated Press reported. In Yangon, in a symbolic fusing of the fuel protests with a long-suppressed democracy movement, several hundred monks passed security checkpoints and chanted prayers outside the house of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The detained democracy leader briefly came out to greet the monks, making her first public appearance since 2003.
The daughter of a famous Burmese independence leader, Ms. Suu Kyi emerged as the public face of antiregime dissent in August 1988, after months of unrest. It was unclear how monks had breached the security cordon around her lakeside villa, where she has spent much of the past 18 years under various terms of house arrest. Monks were blocked Sunday from entering the road to her house, the BBC reported.
Little is known about the network of young monks behind the demonstrations, but they appear to be calibrating their responses, such as a boycott on accepting alms from military officers, to ratchet up pressure on the regime, say analysts.
Their demands in statements to foreign news organizations include a cut in fuel and commodity prices and the release of activists detained in recent protests, as well as broader calls for the release of all political prisoners and dialog with the opposition.
Senior Buddhist clergy have yet to take a position on the marches, and their voice could prove decisive in coming weeks, says David Mathieson, a researcher on Burma for Human Rights Watch. Ordinary people may be waiting for a further signal before joining protests in larger numbers, given the risk of violence.
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