YANGON, Myanmar — Scores of pro-democracy Buddhist
monks took to the streets of Myanmar's second-biggest city Saturday, rallying
against the military coup in demonstrations that coincided with the 14th
anniversary of previous clergy-led mass protests.
اضافة اعلان
Myanmar has been in turmoil and its economy paralyzed since
February when the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government,
ending a ten-year experiment with democracy.
Around the country an
anti-junta resistance has taken root,
prompting the military to unleash a brutal crackdown on dissent. More than
1,100 civilians have been killed and 8,400 arrested, according to a local
monitoring group.
Historically, monks in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar have
been seen as a supreme moral authority, organizing communities and at times
mobilizing opposition to the military regimes. But the coup has exposed a
schism in the monkhood, with some prominent clerics giving the generals their
blessing and others supporting the protesters.
On Saturday, dozens of monks in their bright orange and
crimson robes marched through the streets of Mandalay with flags and banners
and threw colorful streamers in the air.
"Monks who love the truth stand on the side of the
people," a protest leader told AFP.
The monks chanted for the release of political prisoners
including members of Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, which won a landslide
in last November's election.
Some monks carried upside down alms bowls — ordinarily used
to collect food donations from the community — in a symbol of protest to reject
the junta regime, which calls itself the State Administration Council.
"We have to take risks ... to protest as we can be
arrested or shot at any point. We are not safe to live in our monasteries
anymore," a 35-year-old monk told AFP.
In 2007, Buddhist monks led huge demonstrations nationwide
against the previous military junta regime — an uprising that kicked off after
a sudden hike in fuel prices.
The "Saffron revolution" posed a severe legitimacy
crisis for the then 35-year-old dictatorship, which responded with brutal
crackdowns that killed at least 31 people and saw hundreds of monks defrocked
and arrested.
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