Yangon - More than 10,000 Buddhist monks and laymen marched through the streets of Yangon Sunday in the sixth day of peaceful protests against Myanmar's military regime, which has thus far refrained from cracking down on the saffron-robed rebellion. More than 2,000 monks from various townships marched to the Shwedagon Pagoda, where they congregated at noon to chant mantras, before moving on to the Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon and then heading towards Botahtaung Pagoda. The Shwedagon, Sule and Botahtaung are Yangon's three holiest Buddhist temples.
The monks were joined by more than 10,000 laymen, making Sunday's protest march the largest anti-government gathering in more than a decade.
So far the monks, who started marching on Tuesday, have refrained from making any political statements, limiting themselves to chanted prayers.
But laymen protesters shouted anti-government slogans, but restricting themselves to economic complaints.
"Lower commodity prices, that is our cause," was one popular chant. Myanmar's military rulers last month unleashed pent-up frustration with the deteriorating economy when they more than doubled fuel prices on August 15.
Peaceful demonstrations against the fuel hikes started in Yangon on August 19, but were quickly suppressed by authorities who arrested more than 100 protest leaders.
The protest movement was picked up by Myanmar's revered monkhood earlier this month, and has now spread nationwide, and the monks are getting more daring in their tactics.
About 1,000 monks Saturday marched down University Avenue to gather outside the compound of Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May, 2003, where they chanted Buddhist prayers to bless her.
Eyewitnesses said Suu Kyi, in a rare public appearance, repeatedly told the monks "sandu," or "well done," and shed tears of joy when they departed.
Observers have been mystified as to why the soldiers guarding the barriers on University Avenue allowed the monks to pass.
The Shwedagon Pagoda, the golden temple that towers over Yangon's skyline, is not only Myanmar's most sacred spot for Buddhists but is also closely identified with the anti-military protests of 1988, which were led by Suu Kyi, daughter of Burmese independence hero Aung San.
The monks' protest movement appears to have caught Myanmar's military junta off guard.
The junta has kept a tight lid on discontent for the past 19 years, cracking down on all shows of student-led protests and dissent from opposition politicians such as Suu Kyi's supporters.
Thus far, none of Myanmar's Buddhist leaders have come out openly in favour or against the protests.
It is estimated that 50,000 of Myanmar's 400,000-strong monkhood has joined the non-violent movement to protest the country's deteriorating economic conditions.
The monks' movement has put Myanmar's regime in an awkward position. If the rulers do not crack down on the protests, the demonstrations are likely to spread, but if they attack the monks, they would enrage the people.
Buddhist monks have a long history of political activism in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.
The monkhood played a prominent role in Myanmar's struggle for independence from Great Britain, which came in 1948, and joined students in the anti-military demonstrations that rocked Myanmar in 1988 and ended in bloodshed.
Like the recent protests, the 1988 mass demonstrations were sparked by rising discontent with the military's mismanagement of the economy and refusal to introduce some semblance of democracy.
On September 8, 1988, the army cracked down on the pro-democracy movement, leaving an estimated 3,000 dead.
The generals at the time vowed to never allow a repeat of 1988, a vow they have carried out through the suppression of any show of unrest in the country.
Although the military allowed a general election in 1990, it ignored the outcome when 80 per cent of the votes went to the National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi's party. Its reaction made the junta a pariah in the West.
