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Myanmar monks defy junta order
Associated Press
Tuesday, September 25, 2007, (Yangon)
Five truckloads of soldiers were seen heading downtown in Myanmar's largest city Tuesday soon after tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks defied orders to stay off the streets and marched in another peaceful anti-government protest.
Monks have taken over leadership of anti-government protests that began over a month ago, leading marches for the past eight days that are the largest anti-government protests since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed by the military.
The soldiers' movements in Yangon followed announcements by the junta earlier in the day warning monks not to take part in the demonstrations and the public to stay at home or risk arrest.
Two army divisions were either already in or moving toward Yangon from outlying areas, including the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising, according to diplomats and ethnic guerrillas.
"They (the 22nd) are leaving Karen State to go to Yangon. They could get there pretty quickly. By tomorrow, maybe today," said Col Ner Dah Mya, a leader of the Karen National Union, which is fighting the central government.
The 77th Division was already in Yangon but not yet deployed, according to an Asian diplomat in the city who demanded anonymity, citing protocol.
The maroon-robed monks, accompanied by cheering supporters, marched for the eighth day of peaceful protests from Yangon's golden Shwedagon Pagoda, while similar shows of defiance were held in the country's second largest city, Mandalay, and the ruby mining town of Mogok.
Seek apology
A monk who addressed the crowd vowed the protests would continue until the government apologizes for mistreating monks at an earlier demonstration in northern Myanmar.
"The protest is not merely for the well-being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future," one monk told The Associated Press. "People do not tolerate the military government any longer."
The Asian Human Rights Commission, a private organization based in Hong Kong, said the protesters were being threatened with a colonial-era law under which the junta can "command any unlawful assembly to disperse" and if it does not to "proceed to disperse such assembly by (military) force."
An assembly of more than five can amount to breaking the law.
The protests in Yangon reached 100,000 on Monday and were the largest since the pro-democracy uprising 19 years ago.
The authorities did not stop the protests, even as they built to a scale and fervor that rivaled the 1988 uprising, when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorizing the country.
The government has been handling the monks gingerly, wary of raising the ire of ordinary citizens in the devout, predominantly Buddhist nation.
But diplomats said troops have been discreetly deployed in downtown Yangon and could easily be called in against the protesters.
"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. I've seen them myself. You can hear them. They shout," said another Southeast Asian diplomat who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
The diplomat said the junta also issued a regulation limiting bank withdrawals to once a week. "They are trying to control the flow of money," he said.
Rumors swirled through Yangon that troops had been ordered to shoot protesters and that some soldiers had shaved their heads to imitate monks and were attempting infiltrate the protest to spark violence that would then lead to a government crackdown.
Reporters also heard unconfirmed reports that hospitals were preparing for patients and prisons had been cleared to make room for anyone arrested.
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