Myanmar's military government stepped up monitoring of monasteries nationwide, witnesses said yesterday, as part of a campaign to snuff out the worst protests to rock the impoverished nation in nearly a decade.
At the same time, the government tried to play down the significance of the monks' actions. It issued statements over the weekend suggesting the monks were organized by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, with the support of Western embassies, aimed at undermining the government.
Since Aug. 19, pro-democracy groups have been staging street protests over the government's decision to increase fuel prices by as much as 500 percent. Pro-junta supporters have beaten protesters and authorities have arrested dozens.
The protests took a more confrontational tone last week in northern Myanmar, when Buddhist monks -- angry at being beaten up for protesting the economic conditions -- temporarily took officials hostage and later smashed a shop and a house belonging to junta supporters.
Monks also reportedly formed a group over the weekend called the National Front of Monks, the pro-democracy group US Campaign For Burma said.
The front has demanded that authorities apologize for the violence, reduce fuel prices, release all political prisoners and begin negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic leaders.
It was impossible to independently verify the existence of the new group or its demands.
The violence involving the monks has prompted authorities to post police for the first time at monasteries in the key Buddhist cities of Pakokku and Mandalay, as well as Yangon, to prevent further protests from the revered monks, witnesses said.
Authorities accused the NLD of organizing the monks to demonstrate and maliciously blaming supporters of the government for attacking the monks, which then prompted "agitated mobs to destroy the homes and shops of those whom they had falsely accused."
"By observing the incidents which occurred in Pakokku City, the real intention of the NLD vividly shows that they have been trying to seize the state power by a short cut through inciting unrest like in 1988," the government said in a rare statement to the media.
Historically, monks in Myanmar have been at the forefront of protests, first against British colonialism and later military dictatorship. They played a prominent part in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion that sought an end to military rule, which was imposed in 1962. The rebellion was brutally crushed by the military.
The junta held general elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results when the NLD won. Aung San Su Kyi has been detained under house for more than 11 years.
The government's four-page statement on Sunday also alleged that top activists planned terrorist acts and received tens of thousands of dollars from Western nations.
The junta's information committee alleged that prominent activist Htay Kywe, who escaped a security dragnet last month, was helped to hide by the embassy of a "powerful country" -- an apparent reference to the US, one of the regime's harshest critics.
The government, which has been roundly criticized by the world leaders including US President George W. Bush for its heavy-handed tactics, also implied that the US was involved in the opposition groups' plans.
It said an unspecified private US group had delivered US$30,000 last year to Htay Kywe through a Western embassy in Yangon.
Separately, it said the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was attempting to cause unrest by donating US$2.9 million for operations in Myanmar.
The NED is a private, nonprofit organization funded chiefly by the US government to promote democratic institutions around the world by providing cash grants to private groups.
The junta also said "a world-famous organization of a powerful state provided US$100,000 under the heading of helping refugees," and alleged that the money was really used for training in bomb-making and demolition.
Many religious and humanitarian agencies provide aid to hundreds of thousands of Myanmar refugees in neighboring Thailand.
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