The Hindu : International : Monks protest against junta

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Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007
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International

Monks protest against junta

Myanmar regime fears growing demonstrations

— PHOTO: AFP

PEACEFUL STRUGGLE: Hundreds of Buddhist monks sit in protest against the Myanmar military regime in Yangon on Tuesday.

YANGON (Myanmar): More than 1,000 Buddhist monks marched peacefully in two Myanmar cities on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of recent anti-government protests that have rocked the country, witnesses said.

At least 400 monks, chanting prayers and walking in rows, marched in the country’s biggest city, Yangon, said witnesses, who refused to be named for fear of reprisals. After pro-junta toughs and plainclothes police barred them from entering Yangon’s famous Shwedagon pagoda and then the Botataung pagoda, the monks sat in the street and chanted before ending the protest and returning to monasteries. Thousands of onlookers cheered, clapped and offered water as the saffron-robed monks made the three-hour, 16-km march.

Unlike at earlier protests, junta supporters did not intervene. They did, however, snatch video cameras and cameras from some journalists and attempted to seize one journalist and force him into a truck, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, in the city of Bago about 80 km away, some 1,000 monks marched peacefully to the Shwemawdaw pagoda, residents said.No one was arrested in either march. The monks had given authorities a Monday deadline to apologise for beating hundreds of them two weeks ago as they marched peacefully. — AP

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