Confrontation Seems Inevitable in Myanmar

One of the most oppressive regimes is about to crush a movement of Buddhist monks seeking democracy. China is the governments major supporter and likely the only country who can persuade them to do differently. It seems unlikely that will happen given the history of Tiananmen Square.
NDTV.com

Five truckloads of soldiers were seen heading downtown in Myanmar's largest city Tuesday soon after tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks defied orders to stay off the streets and marched in another peaceful anti-government protest.


Monks have taken over leadership of anti-government protests that began over a month ago, leading marches for the past eight days that are the largest anti-government protests since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed by the military.


The soldiers' movements in Yangon followed announcements by the junta earlier in the day warning monks not to take part in the demonstrations and the public to stay at home or risk arrest. Two army divisions were either already in or moving toward Yangon from outlying areas, including the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising, according to diplomats and ethnic guerrillas. ''They (the 22nd) are leaving Karen State to go to Yangon. They could get there pretty quickly. By tomorrow, maybe today,'' said Col Ner Dah Mya, a leader of the Karen National Union, which is fighting the central government. The 77th Division was already in Yangon but not yet deployed, according to an Asian diplomat in the city who demanded anonymity, citing protocol.


The maroon-robed monks, accompanied by cheering supporters, marched for the eighth day of peaceful protests from Yangon's golden Shwedagon Pagoda, while similar shows of defiance were held in the country's second largest city, Mandalay, and the ruby mining town of Mogok.


A monk who addressed the crowd vowed the protests would continue until the government apologizes for mistreating monks at an earlier demonstration in northern Myanmar. ''The protest is not merely for the well-being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future,'' one monk told The Associated Press. ''People do not tolerate the military government any longer.''


The Asian Human Rights Commission, a private organization based in Hong Kong, said the protesters were being threatened with a colonial-era law under which the junta can ''command any unlawful assembly to disperse'' and if it does not to ''proceed to disperse such assembly by (military) force.'' An assembly of more than five can amount to breaking the law.


The protests in Yangon reached 100,000 on Monday and were the largest since the pro-democracy uprising 19 years ago. The authorities did not stop the protests, even as they built to a scale and fervor that rivaled the 1988 uprising, when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorizing the country.