Monks stage rally against military regime in Myanmar
Thursday, 20 September 2007
YANGON, Sept 19 (AFP): More than 300 Buddhist monks Wednesday took to the streets in Myanmar's main city of Yangon in the latest show of public defiance against the junta, one month after a series of protests began.
Chanting Buddhist prayers, a group of 100 monks marched in the rain in eastern Yangon while a separate larger group were heading toward the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most important landmark.
Dozens of plainclothes officials followed the monks with video cameras but the marchers were not impeded by police.
More than 300 monks tried to enter the pagoda Tuesday but authorities sealed it off, forcing the protesters to march through the city. Hundreds of other people joined them.
Chanting Buddhist prayers, a group of 100 monks marched in the rain in eastern Yangon while a separate larger group were heading toward the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most important landmark.
Dozens of plainclothes officials followed the monks with video cameras but the marchers were not impeded by police.
More than 300 monks tried to enter the pagoda Tuesday but authorities sealed it off, forcing the protesters to march through the city. Hundreds of other people joined them.