Burma monks back on streets
Pakhokku is located in the centre of Burma
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Wednesday, 31, Oct 2007 10:03
A small group of Burmese monks have ventured out on to the streets in the first protests since September's brutally suppressed demonstrations.
Up to 200 monks were involved in the march, which occurred in the town of Pakhokku where the first seeds of the pro-democracy movement took root in August this year.
The monks marched for around an hour and did not offer any political opinions, eyewitnesses said. Instead they chanted Buddhist prayers before retreating back to their monastery.
Pakhokku saw monks lead protests in the weeks after the Burmese junta doubled the price of petrol and diesel on August 15th.
When security officials intervened and fired shots over the heads of the demonstrators members of the public rallied to support the monks, whose pro-democracy protests gathered momentum throughout September.
On September 27th security forces implemented the "extreme action" they had threatened and, having killed at least ten people, imposed repressive curfews in the capital, Yangon.
The violent crackdown was severely criticised by members of the international community and hopes were pinned on UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, whose efforts have so far yielded little progress.
Many of the opposition leaders arrested during the protests have been released, however. The Reuters news agency quoted a party official representing the National League for Democracy saying that three senior party figures had been freed earlier today.