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Monk protest continues in Mandalay as govt censors coverage
Led by Ashin Sopaka, five young Buddhist monks hold a public rally for a second day before a crowd of about a thousand people. Under pressure from the authorities, older monks issue a warning to stop the demonstration. Slogans and songs from the saffron Revolution of 2007 are heard.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – The five Buddhist monks who staged a protest yesterday in Mandalay have held a second rally in front of a crowd made up of about a thousand people, plus plainclothes police officers. Older monks, including the president of the local Sangha Committee, have tried to pressure them to stop their action. The latter in fact are concerned that the government and the military might retaliate after remaining on the sidelines so far. Some sources are saying instead that the “elders” are acting as part of a government strategy designed to avoid bloodshed and bad publicity abroad. For this reason, the authorities are using older Buddhist monks to “dissuade” younger ones from engaging in protests.
Burmese authorities have imposed a media blackout, preventing print and video reporting. However, in the afternoon, some 1,200 people were able to listen to protest leader, Monk Ashin Sopaka, who is from Yangon like his fellow monks.
In a 15-minute speech, he reiterated the demands he and his colleagues made yesterday, namely the release of political prisoners, an end to the war between the army and ethnic militias, freedom of speech and thought for monks.
“I think things are going well,” Ashin Sopaka said, adding however, “We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”
Sources cited by Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) said that the five monks who staged the protest yesterday left the Maha Myatmuni Pagoda, where they had started, and moved to the Masoyein Monastery, which is believed to be safer from a police crackdown.
At the end of their address, the five monks and their audience began shouting slogans and singing songs from the Saffron Revolution of September 2007, praising love and calling for an end to torture and imprisonment for crimes of opinion.
Launched by monks in Yangon protesting price hikes, the 2007 movement was crushed by the military junta with dozens of dead and hundreds of people arrested.