MYANMAR: Monks and civilians protest in Myanmar

In a rare show of dissent, two men staged a protest on Tuesday (September 18) outside Myanmar's capital Yangon to protest against rising fuel costs. Residents looked puzzled, as the men first sat down on the roadside, holding placards. The protesters then walked along the main street. Within minutes, security forces in civilian clothes dragged them away and stopped the cameraman from filming. The fate of the two protesters remains unknown. Myanmar has seen unrest in recent months. Nearly 1,000 Buddhist monks marched through the city of Sittwe on Wednesday (September 19), a day after soldiers fired tear gas and warning shots to scatter a similar protest against the ruling generals. Urging thousands of bystanders not to join in, they staged a sit-in outside the local government offices to demand the release of two men sentenced to two years in jail for giving water to monks protesting against soaring fuel prices last month. After several hours of talks, officials agreed to release the pair -- identified by a legal source as Maung Saw Thein, 40, and Han Min Lwin, 36 -- in three days. They are believed to be held in Yangon's infamous Insein prison. The monks then dispersed to cheers from the crowds. Three or four small monk protests on the streets of Yangon also ended without incident. The increasing involvement of monks, key players in a 1988 mass uprising, is a sign of the dissent that broke out last month over shock fuel price rises intensifying.

ITN Source | September 20, 2007

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