Date: Sep 25, 2007 2:44 AM Subject: [Kukiforum] Myanmar generals face biggest protest in 20 yrs The Morung Express: September 25, 2007 Myanmar generals face biggest protest in 20 yrs Buddhist monks march on a street in protest against the military government in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, September 24. As many as 100,000 anti-government protesters led by a phalanx of Buddhist monks marched Monday through Yangon, the largest crowd to demonstrate in Myanmar's biggest city since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military. (AP Photo) YANGON, September 24 (Reuters): Tens of thousands of people joined streams of Buddhist monks on marches through Myanmar's capital on Monday in the biggest demonstration against the ruling generals since they crushed student-led protests nearly 20 years ago. "I'm very excited and frankly I'm worried too," a teacher said as she watched the massed opposition to 45 years of army rule that has impoverished the nation of 53 million people. In the northwest coastal town of Sittwe, residents said it seemed entire population of more than 100,000 people was marching with the monks. "I've never seen such a big crowd in my life. The whole town came out," one said. Protests were also held in Mandalay, where 10,000 monks and people took to the streets, and in Bago, just north of Yangon. In Yangon, five columns of maroon-robed monks, one stretching more than a kilometer marched from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the devoutly Buddhist country's holiest shrine, to the city centre where thousands of people filled five blocks. "People locked arms around the monks. They were clapping and cheering," a witness said on the sixth day of marches by monks, some of them carrying placards calling for "Better Living Conditions" and the "Release of Political Prisoners". Another banner said: "May The Peoples' Desire Be Fulfilled". After holding prayers at the Sule Pagoda in the main business district, a crowd estimated at up to 100,000 marched to another pagoda and dispersed peacefully. For the first time, the marchers included members of parliament elected in 1990 from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) two days after a dramatic appearance of support for the monks by detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. What began as anger at last month's shock fuel price rises has become a wider movement against the generals, with one monk group calling for peaceful mass protests until the junta fell. "There's no prospect now of the monks just deciding to abandon this. They are getting braver every day and their demands are getting greater every day, and it's much more overtly political," a Yangon-based diplomat said. "It's now about Aung San Suu Kyi, it's about reform. "The monks have got numbers and, if not immunity, then certainly it's much more difficult for the government to crack down on them than ordinary civilians," the diplomat said. The United States, the loudest Western critic of the regime, expressed sympathy for the protesters and denounced the military. Myanmar's regional neighbours, long frustrated by the generals refusal to speed up reforms, looked on with worry. "We hope that the ongoing protests will be resolved in a peaceful manner," said the Foreign Ministry of Singapore, one of Myanmar's biggest foreign investors. There were no signs of trouble during Monday's protests, but rumours of an imminent crackdown -- one suggested hospitals were being emptied of non-critical patients -- swirled in Yangon. The generals are due to hold a quarterly summit soon in their new capital of Naypyidaw, carved out of the central jungle. Dealing with the protests is sure to top the agenda. The protests began on Aug. 19 and soon prompted a round-up of the democracy activists who organised them and now face up to 20 years in jail. As the protests have grown, they have drawn public declarations of support from the famous. The country's biggest stars of the stage, screen and music, including Tun Eindra Bo -- Myanmar's equivalent of Angelina Jolie -- have formed a "Sangkha Support Committee" and pledged to provide the monks with whatever assistance they need. "The fact these celebrities are joining in is very significant," said one Myanmar exile who listened to them giving interviews on Burmese-language foreign radio stations. A month of mushrooming protests in Myanmar Tens of thousands of people joined streams of monks on marches through Yangon on Monday in the biggest demonstration against Myanmar's ruling generals since they crushed student-led protests in 1988. Here are some key dates over the last month: Aug. 15: Without warning, diesel prices are doubled and the cost of compressed natural gas rises five-fold. Bus networks in Yangon grind to a temporary halt. Aug. 23: Thirteen prominent dissidents are arrested for organising protests against the fuel price rises. They face up to 20 years in jail. Aug. 28: After two weeks of sporadic marches, mostly by social activists and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), Buddhist monks join in for the first time, leading a march in the northwest city of Sittwe. Sept. 5: Soldiers fire warning shots to halt 500 marching monks in Pakokku, 600 kmnorthwest of Yangon. Sept. 6: Several hundred angry Pakokku monks hold government officials hostage for more than four hours and torch their cars. Sept. 11: Monks threaten to shun the military unless the junta apologises for assaulting monks in Pakokku. Sept. 16: Two monks in Sittwe are arrested, the first to members of the priesthood to be detained. Sept. 17: Myanmar-language foreign radio stations broadcast reports that an alliance of monks will refuse to accept alms from the ruling generals, their families and associates -- a very serious threat in the devoutly Buddhist country. Sept. 18: Authorities fire tear gas to break up a protest of about 1,000 monks and civilians in Sittwe. Sept. 19: Nearly 1,000 monks stage a sit-in outside government offices. Sept. 20: After being barred for three days, 500 monks are allowed into Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest shrine, to pray. Armed police throw up barbed wire barricades near Yangon university, a focus of the 1988 uprisings. Sept. 21: Some 600 monks march through Yangon, meeting no opposition from watching plainclothes policemen. Sept. 22: Monks are let through the barbed-wire barricades outside the home of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel peace laureate appears in a doorway and prays with the monks for 15 minutes. It is the first time she has been seen in public since May 2003. Sept. 23: Buddhist nuns join monk protests at the Shwedagon for the first time. Sept. 24: Tens of thousands of people join streams of monks on marches through central Yangon. It is the biggest demonstration against the junta since the generals crushed the 1988 uprising at an estimated cost of 3,000 lives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S --
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