Myanmar monks chant ‘democracy’ junta threatens

YANGON – Chanting ‘democracy, democracy’, 10 000 monks marched through the heart of Myanmar’s main city yesterday in defiance of a threat by the ruling generals to send in troops to end the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years.

“The streets are lined with people clapping and cheering them on,” a witness said. There were no signs of soldiers around the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, the destination of a week of marches by the deeply revered maroon-robed monks.However, one Yangon-based diplomat said five army trucks, each capable of carrying up to 50 soldiers, lurked less than a kilometre away from the pagoda and City Hall next door.That area was the scene of the worst bloodshed during a crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1988 in which up to 3 000 people are thought to have been killed.”The people are not afraid,” another witness said.”They are helping the monks and offering them drinking water.”In Taunggok, a coastal city 400km northwest of Yangon, people said up to 40 000 monks and civilians took to the streets as the campaign against 45 years of military rule swelled in size and scope.As on Monday, when up to 100 000 people came out in support in Yangon, the column of monks stretched several blocks as they marched from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Southeast Asian nation’s holiest shrine and symbolic heart of the campaign.In a gesture of defiance, some waved the bright red ‘fighting peacock’ flag, emblem of the student unions that spearheaded a the 1988 uprising, one the darkest episodes in the former Burma’s modern history.In an ominous reminder, vehicles mounted with loudspeakers toured the city in the morning blaring out threats of action under a law allowing the use of military force to break up illegal protests.”People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches.Action will be taken against those who violate this order,” the broadcasts said.The international community has pleaded with the generals to avoid another bloodbath, but the chilling message behind the legal language of the warnings was lost on nobody in the city of 5 million people.”I’m really worried about the possible outbreak of violence,” one street vendor said.”We know from experience that these people never hesitate to do what they want.”Far away in their new jungle capital, the generals hunkered down for an emergency ‘War Office’ meeting, a diplomat said, and ethnic Karen rebels on the Thai border told Reuters troops of the 22nd Division had been redeployed to Yangon.The 22nd Division played a major role in the 1988 carnage.After huge crowds broke up in Yangon and several other cities on Monday, state radio quoted Religious Affairs Minister Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung as saying action would be taken against senior monks if they did not control their charges.Others urged the generals to address the grievances of Myanmar’s 56 million people who, in the past 50 years, have watched their country go from being one of Asia’s brightest prospects to one of its most desperate.US President George W Bush was to announce new sanctions and call for support for political change in a speech at the United Nations yesterday.UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari said he was praying the generals opted for compromise and dialogue with the monks and opposition party of detained democracy icon and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rather than sending in the troops.Nampa-ReutersThere were no signs of soldiers around the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, the destination of a week of marches by the deeply revered maroon-robed monks.However, one Yangon-based diplomat said five army trucks, each capable of carrying up to 50 soldiers, lurked less than a kilometre away from the pagoda and City Hall next door.That area was the scene of the worst bloodshed during a crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1988 in which up to 3 000 people are thought to have been killed.”The people are not afraid,” another witness said.”They are helping the monks and offering them drinking water.”In Taunggok, a coastal city 400km northwest of Yangon, people said up to 40 000 monks and civilians took to the streets as the campaign against 45 years of military rule swelled in size and scope.As on Monday, when up to 100 000 people came out in support in Yangon, the column of monks stretched several blocks as they marched from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Southeast Asian nation’s holiest shrine and symbolic heart of the campaign.In a gesture of defiance, some waved the bright red ‘fighting peacock’ flag, emblem of the student unions that spearheaded a the 1988 uprising, one the darkest episodes in the former Burma’s modern history.In an ominous reminder, vehicles mounted with loudspeakers toured the city in the morning blaring out threats of action under a law allowing the use of military force to break up illegal protests.”People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches.Action will be taken against those who violate this order,” the broadcasts said.The international community has pleaded with the generals to avoid another bloodbath, but the chilling message behind the legal language of the warnings was lost on nobody in the city of 5 million people.”I’m really worried about the possible outbreak of violence,” one street vendor said.”We know from experience that these people never hesitate to do what they want.”Far away in their new jungle capital, the generals hunkered down for an emergency ‘War Office’ meeting, a diplomat said, and ethnic Karen rebels on the Thai border told Reuters troops of the 22nd Division had been redeployed to Yangon.The 22nd Division played a major role in the 1988 carnage.After huge crowds broke up in Yangon and several other cities on Monday, state radio quoted Religious Affairs Minister Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung as saying action would be taken against senior monks if they did not control their charges.Others urged the generals to address the grievances of Myanmar’s 56 million people who, in the past 50 years, have watched their country go from being one of Asia’s brightest prospects to one of its most desperate.US President George W Bush was to announce new sanctions and call for support for political change in a speech at the United Nations yesterday.UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari said he was praying the generals opted for compromise and dialogue with the monks and opposition party of detained democracy icon and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rather than sending in the troops.Nampa-Reuters