Global protests as junta admits hundreds of monks detained

A day of global protests against Burma’s junta began in cities across Asia today, after the military regime admitted detaining hundreds of Buddhist monks when troops turned their guns on pro-democracy demonstrators last week.

Hoping to send a message to the generals that “the world is still watching,” rights group Amnesty International organised marches in more than two dozen Asian, European and North American cities.

Hundreds marched in the Australian city of Melbourne behind a banner demanding “No More Bloodshed.” A smaller crowd of about 50 turned out in Bangkok, Thailand. In Malaysia’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, 300 people attended a candlelight vigil Friday evening outside the city’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers.

More rallies were planned in New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, England, France, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland, the US and Canada.

International condemnation of Burma’s junta intensified at the United Nations, with the US warning it would push for UN sanctions against Burma if it fails to respond to the world’s demands to move toward democracy.

The junta’s treatment of the Buddhist monks – who are revered in the deeply religious nation and led the street protests – is a key issue that could further inflame the people of Burma and anger soldiers loyal to the military rulers.

The government insisted most of the monks it detained had already been freed, with only 109 still in custody, according to an official statement broadcast Friday night on state TV. The report noted the junta was still hunting for four more monks it believed were ringleaders of the rallies.

Demonstrations that began in mid-August over a fuel price increase swelled into Burma’s largest anti-government protests in 19 years, inspired largely by the thousands of monks who poured into the streets.

Television images last week showed soldiers shooting into crowds of unarmed protesters – but the government described the troops’ reaction as “systematically controlling” the protesters.

The government says 10 people were killed in the September 26-27 crackdown and 2,100 were detained. But dissident groups put the death toll at more than 200 and the number of detainees at nearly 6,000.

At the United Nations in New York, the UN’s special envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari urged the country’s military rulers to strive toward democracy and quickly start talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari said he was “cautiously encouraged” after the junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, said he would meet Suu Kyi, with certain conditions. Those include giving up her calls for confronting the government and for imposing sanctions against it, Burma state media said.

“This is an hour of historic opportunity for Burma,” Gambari said.

The military has ruled Burma since 1962. The current junta came to power after routing a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, killing at least 3,000 people. Suu Kyi’s party won elections in 1990, but the generals refused to accept the results.

Suu Kyi, who has spent nearly 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest, won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her democracy campaign.