Buddhist monks staged peaceful protest marches for a second day in Myanmar yesterday, challenging authorities who used tear gas and fired warnings shots to break up some protests a day earlier.
More than 1,000 monks marched in the central city of Mandalay and about 100 others in dark saffron robes staged a peaceful march in the western Yangon suburb of Ahlone.
"The monks are telling the public not to take part in the protests. They told onlookers that this is the monks' affair and that they would handle it themselves," a witness contacted by phone in Ahlone said.
The person asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Witnesses contacted by phone in Mandalay said more than 1,000 monks from various monasteries had marched to Maha Myat Muni, the most revered Buddhist pagoda in the country's second-largest city.
There were no reports of intervention by the junta, which acknowledged in state media reports yesterday that authorities used tear gas and fired warning shots in the air to break up protests on Tuesday in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state in western Myanmar.
The state-run newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, claimed yesterday that bogus monks, "instigators" and foreign radio station reports helped the crowds swell on Tuesday.
It said senior Buddhist leaders urged the monks to disperse, but the crowd retaliated by throwing stones and sticks.
The report said the authorities made no arrests and there were no injuries.
The marches on Tuesday marked the 19th anniversary of the 1988 crackdown in Myanmar in which the current junta took over after crushing a failed pro-democracy rebellion that sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962.
The anniversary was also commemorated by protests in the Philippines, India and New Zealand.
The junta held general elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. Suu Kyi has been detained under house arrest for more than 11 years.
Monks in Myanmar, previously known as Burma, have historically been at the forefront of protests -- first against British colonialism and later military dictatorship. They also played a prominent part in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion.
The authorities know that restraining monks poses a dilemma. Monks are highly respected in the predominantly Buddhist country and abusing them in any way could cause public outrage.
Peaceful protests by monks began on Aug. 30 in Sittwe.
A second protest on Sept. 5 in the northern town of Pakokku was cut short when troops fired warning shots and used tear gas.
Junta supporters also manhandled some marchers.
In response, young monks angry at their mistreatment briefly took officials hostage, torched their vehicles and later smashed a shop and a house belonging to junta supporters.
Monks had given authorities until Monday to apologize for their mistreatment in Pakokku, a center of Buddhist learning, but it went unanswered.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese