Buddhist monks protest peacefully amid tight security

Hundreds of Buddhist monks protested today outside the locked gates of Burma’s most revered temple, challenging the country’s military rulers in the most sustained wave of demonstrations in a decade.

About 500 monks found the gates locked at the Shwedagon pagoda, a golden temple atop a hill dominating Rangoon, the country’s biggest city. They then marched through the streets, followed by a few hundred onlookers and scores of plainclothes security officials.