In Burma, Monks Risk Lives To Protest Again
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BANGKOK, Thailand — Burmese monks returned to the streets yesterday for the first time since the democracy movement they led was violently suppressed a month ago.
In a stunning show of defiance, around 100 Buddhist holy men walked through town of Pakokku chanting prayers for about 30 minutes without encountering security forces. It is the same town where soldiers attacked protesting monks on September 6, unleashing a wave of protest that culminated in huge rallies across the country two weeks later. In the crackdown that followed, dozens of people are believed to have been killed and many of the thousands who were arrested are still being held.
The Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident radio station based in Norway, said the monks maintained their demands for lower fuel prices, national reconciliation, and the release of all political prisoners, including a Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The U.N. envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is to return to the country on Saturday for his second visit since the crackdown.
