Myanmar monks chant "democracy," soldiers move in

Over ten thousand monks, joined by thousands of bystanders, march to the city center of Yangon in a anti-government protest September 25, 2007. (REUTERS/Stringer)

By Aung Hla Tun | September 25, 2007

YANGON (Reuters) - Chanting "democracy, democracy," 10,000 monks marched through the heart of Myanmar's main city on Tuesday in defiance of a threat by the ruling generals to send in troops to end the biggest anti-junta protests in nearly 20 years.

The streets were lined with people clapping and cheering and there were no overt signs of police or soldiers and no trouble as the campaign against 45 years of military rule swelled in size and scope.

But after the demonstrators left the area around the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, the focus of a week of marches by the revered maroon-robed monks, riot police and troops moved in.

Eight trucks arrived with police carrying shields, batons and rifles, a Reuters witness said. Eleven army trucks packed with soldiers also drove in, suggesting the junta was filling up the city centre to counter any attempt at a repeat.

In another possible sign of looming confrontation, a well-placed source said detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was moved to the notorious Insein prison on Sunday, a day after she appeared in front of her house to greet monks.

If true, removing Suu Kyi from her lakeside villa would deprive the protesters of a focus after they were stunned by police allowing them through the barricades sealing off her street on Saturday.

They have not been allowed through since despite several attempts and scores of riot police took up positions behind razor-wire barricades at the entrance to the street.

REMINDER OF '88

The area around the Sule pagoda was the scene of the worst bloodshed during a crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1988 in which 3,000 people are thought to have been killed.

In an ominous reminder of that, vehicles bearing loudspeakers toured the city in the morning blaring out threats of action under a law allowing troops 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.

People arrived in huge numbers anyway a day after up to 100,000 people protested in Yangon and in Taunggok, a coastal city 250 miles (400) to the northwest, about 40,000 monks and civilians took to the streets, witnesses said.

"The people are not afraid," one man said as the Yangon column of monks stretched several blocks on their march 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.

INTERNATIONAL PLEAS

The international community has pleaded with the generals to avoid another bloodbath, but the chilling message behind the legal language of Tuesday's warnings was lost on nobody in the city of 5 million people.

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 and the report lent weight to threats against senior monks issued by Religious Affairs Minister Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung.

State radio quoted him as saying action would be taken against senior monks if they did not control their charges in protests he said were fomented by political extremists.

That triggered anxiety around the world.

"The regime has a long history of violent reactions to peaceful demonstrations," Gareth Evans, head of the International Crisis Group think-tank, said in a statement.

"If serious loss of life is to be averted, those U.N. members with influence over the government are going to have to come together fast," he said in reference to China, Russia and India.

China, the closest the junta has to a friend, had been making an effort recently to let the generals know how worried the international community was, a Beijing-based diplomat said.

On Tuesday, Beijing said it "certainly hopes Myanmar can maintain stability and resolve the issue in its own way," but left it unclear clear what kind of diplomatic pressure it was exerting on the generals behind the scenes.

One of the world's most isolated regimes, the junta has seldom listened to the opinions of others.

BUSH TO ANNOUNCE SANCTIONS

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.

U.S. President George W. Bush was to announce new sanctions and call for support for political change in a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the European Union to impose tighter sanctions.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari said he was praying the generals opted for compromise and dialogue with the monks and opposition party of Suu Kyi rather than sending in the troops.

"For the sake of the people of Myanmar, for the sake of neighboring countries and for the sake of Myanmar's place in the world, we certainly hope that the same reaction that took place in 1988 will not be the case now," he told CNN.