Burma:At least 5,000 monks and nuns, applauded by thousands of onlookers, marched in Rangoon (renamed by the military junta Yangon) yesterday.
This was the largest demonstration yet in Burma (Myanmar) in a rare wave of protests against the ruling generals.
A day after a dramatic appearance of support for the marchers by detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, monks prayed at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, devoutly Buddhist Burma's holiest shrine, then marched through the city.Some 100 nuns joined one band of more than 2,000 monks, then marched to the centre of the former capital.
It was one of five protest marches by monks in the city and there were at least two in Mandalay, a major religious centre, ahead of a quarterly summit of the generals who have ruled Burma for 45 years.
There were no signs of trouble at yesterday's protests.
Plainclothes police kept watch, but there were no uniformed officers or soldiers in sight and people on the streets applauded as the marchers passed.
Protest marches by monks have become more regular, a sign that what began as civilian anger at last month's shock fuel price rises is becoming a more deep-rooted religious movement against the generals.
In New York, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice expressed sympathy for the protesters and denounced the military: "The Burmese people deserve better. They deserve right to be able to live in freedom, just as everyone does."
The mood was cheerful in Rangoon, with many people seeing the emergence of Suu Kyi from her lakeside villa as a sign the military, which put down a 1988 uprising ruthlessly, was being flexible.
It was the first time she had been seen in public since her latest detention began in May 2003. For many onlookers, already stunned by police allowing marching monks through the barricades sealing off her street, it was overwhelming.
She emerged from a small door in the iron gate to the house, her hands held palm to palm in a gesture of Buddhist supplication.
"Some of us could not control our tears," one witness said after 1,000 monks held a prayer vigil at the house to which Suu Kyi is confined with no telephone and needing official permission, granted rarely, to receive visitors.
However, yesterday, the barbed-wire barricade at the entrance to her street was reinforced by four fire engines, several police vans and dozens of police carrying riot shields who refused to allow a group of 200 marching monks through.
News of Suu Kyi's appearance spread rapidly on a day when the monks marched despite Rangoon being flooded by over 29cm (11ins) of rain, the highest recorded in 39 years.
"The monks showed their courage, strong determination and discipline while the regime showed flexibility," a retired government official said.
Meanwhile, Burma Action Ireland (BAI) has expressed concern for the safety of monks who have taken to the streets in solidarity with civilian protests over fuel price increases.
BAI called for the UN Security Council to intervene to negotiate an end to the political crisis which it says is at the heart of the problems of Burma.
- (Reuters)