Myanmar anti-junta protests biggest in 20 years

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people joined Buddhist monks on marches in Myanmar's former capital on Monday in the biggest demonstration against the ruling generals since they crushed student-led protests nearly 20 years ago.

"I'm very excited and frankly I'm worried too," a teacher said as she watched the massed opposition in Yangon to 45 years of army rule that has impoverished the Southeast Asian nation of 53 million people.

A senior U.S. official said President George W. Bush would announce new sanctions against Myanmar's rulers and call for support for political change in the country formerly known as Burma during a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday.

The European Union urged Myanmar's military junta to show the "utmost restraint" in dealing with the demonstrations.

"We hope that the regime will use this opportunity to launch a process of real political reform," said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Protests were reported elsewhere in Myanmar, with residents of Sittwe saying it seemed the entire northwestern coastal town of more than 100,000 people was marching with the monks.

"I've never seen such a big crowd in my life. The whole town came out," one said.

In Mandalay, 10,000 monks and people took to the streets. A demonstration also took place in Bago, just north of Yangon.

The junta, which had been silent since the monks' protests began six days ago, threatened them with legal action.

Minister for Religious Affairs Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung was quoted on state-owned radio as telling senior members of the State Monks Council that the protests were incited by "destructive elements who do not want to see peace, stability and progress in the country."

LOCKING ARMS

Earlier, five columns of maroon-robed monks, one stretching more than a kilometre (nearly a mile), marched from Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, the devoutly Buddhist country's holiest shrine, to the city centre where thousands of people filled five blocks.

"People locked arms around the monks. They were clapping and cheering," a witness said.

Some monks carried placards calling for "Better Living Conditions" and the "Release of Political Prisoners." Another banner said: "May The Peoples' Desire Be Fulfilled."

After holding prayers at the Sule Pagoda in the business district, a crowd estimated at up to 100,000 marched to another pagoda and dispersed peacefully.

For the first time, the marchers included members of parliament elected in 1990 from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), two days after a dramatic appearance of support for the monks by detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Beyond fresh U.S. sanctions, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush "is going to announce that there will a visa ban to key individuals associated with the negative activities of the regime, including their families."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokeswoman issued a statement urging the Myanmar government to show restraint and commending the demonstrators for taking a peaceful approach.

Ban called on the junta to "seize this opportunity to engage without delay in dialogue with all the relevant parties to the national reconciliation process," the statement said.

"IT'S ABOUT REFORM"

What began as anger at sudden steep fuel price rises last month has become a wider movement against the generals, with one monk group calling for peaceful mass protests until the junta fell.

"There's no prospect now of the monks just deciding to abandon this. They are getting braver every day and their demands are getting greater every day, and it's much more overtly political," a Yangon-based diplomat said.

"It's now about Aung San Suu Kyi, it's about reform," the diplomat said. "The monks have got numbers and, if not immunity, then certainly it's much more difficult for the government to crack down on them than ordinary civilians."

Myanmar's regional neighbours, long frustrated by the generals' refusal to speed up reforms, looked on with worry.

"We hope that the ongoing protests will be resolved in a peaceful manner," said the Foreign Ministry of Singapore, one of Myanmar's biggest foreign investors.

There were no signs of trouble during Monday's protests, but rumours of an imminent crackdown swirled in Yangon. One rumour suggested hospitals were being emptied of non-critical patients.

The generals were due to hold a quarterly summit soon in their new capital of Naypyidaw, carved out of the central jungle. Dealing with the protests is sure to top the agenda.

The protests began on August 19 and soon prompted a round-up of the democracy activists who organized them and now face up to 20 years in jail. As the protests have grown, they have drawn public declarations of support from the famous.

The country's biggest stars of the stage, screen and music, including Tun Eindra Bo -- Myanmar's equivalent of Angelina Jolie -- have formed a "Sangkha Support Committee" and pledged to provide the monks with whatever assistance they need.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Bangkok and Matt Spetalnick in New York)