Yangon (AsiaNews) – Burma’s police rushed a crowd of monks and civilians this morning, with batons and teargas, as they attempted to march out of the Shwedagong Pagoda for the ninth consecutive day. In the attempt to halt all demonstrations, the army arrested dozens of bonzi and civilians and decreed a curfew in all major cities in the Nation.
Countering military orders which prohibit all types of gatherings and ban monks marching in the cities, this morning about one hundred people assembled around Shwedagong pagoda in Yangon, sealed off by barbed wire and a massive army presence.
Yesterday the country witnessed the greatest public demonstration against the regime in the last 20 years. Hundred of thousands, monks and civilians, marched along the streets of Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggok, applauding and chanting slogans in favour of democracy, national reconciliation and the release of all political prisoners.
Security forces surrounded the pagodas of Shwedagong and Sule – the starting and finishing points of the marches – and only allowed entrance following a strict body check.
A curfew has been imposed in Yangon and Mandalay, between 9 in the evening and 5 in the morning; the areas surrounding the pagodas have been declared “restricted”. For 60 days starting from yesterday, all public assemblies have been banned.
Overnight the police also arrested Zaganar, the nation’s most famous writer, who has recently organised a meal in honour of the monks. The monks accept alms from civilians but empty the alms cups in front of soldiers: a gesture which is the equivalent of “excommunication” for their actions. According to the BBC, an important pro-democracy activist, U Win Naing was also arrested overnight. Unconfirmed reports say that the democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was taken from her house, where she was kept under house arrest. Saturday last a group of monks marched in front of the gates of her house stopping for a few moments of silence in salute of the women who has been virtually imprisoned for the last 18 years, after having won national elections, never recognised by the military junta.
Many experts maintain that the junta now finds itself at a cross roads: suppress the increasingly powerful protests, as happened in ’88 killing thousands of people; or leave the protests to reach a climax and then fade. But the marches of the monks, which have drawn the participation of thousands of civilians, have become an open challenge to the regime which has oppressed the nation for over 45 years now.
AsiaNews sources say that even the ethnic minorities in the North and East of the country, marginalised now for decades, are thinking of taking up arms once against the military.
