Monks defy regime protest orders

SOLDIERS, including an army division that took part in the brutal suppression of a 1988 uprising, converged on Burma’s largest city after thousands of monks and sympathisers defied government orders to stay out of politics and protested once again yesterday.

Cheered on by supporters, the Buddhist monks marched out for an eighth day of peaceful protest from Yangon’s soaring Shwedagon Pagoda, while a total of 700 others staged a similar show of defiance in the country’s second largest city of Mandalay.

“The protest is not merely for the wellbeing of people, but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future,” one monk said.

“People do not tolerate the military government any longer.”

Yesterday’s protests came despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries.

The junta sent 10 truckloads of troops to SulePagoda, a focal point of the protests, including the one yesterday. Troops had been discreetly stationed in Yangon for the past few days, said diplomats.

“They are in full battle gear and they have shields and truncheons. Since two or three days, you could see they are rehearsing anti-riot formations,” said a South-east Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States, European officials and religious leaders worldwide, including the Dalai Lama and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, intensified calls for the junta to refrain from a crackdown against the peaceful protesters.

According to an ethnic guerrilla commander, among the army divisions dispatched was the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorising the country.