APSN | Monks continue political protest in Mandalay

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Monks continue political protest in Mandalay

Irrawaddy - November 16, 2011

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Five young Buddhist monks continued their peaceful anti-government protest in Mandalay for the second day on Wednesday, while the Burmese authorities tried to disrupt the event by forcing elderly Buddhist clergy to prohibit the monks from staging the protest in their monasteries.

The protests began on Tuesday morning when the group of monks locked themselves into a religious building near the Maha Myat Muni Pagoda, the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mandalay, Burma's second largest city in which the country's largest congregation of Buddhist monks resides.

For the ensuing several hours, the protesting monks used a loudspeaker to give anti-government speeches, during which they called for the release of political prisoners, an end to armed clashes in ethnic minority areas and greater freedom of expression in Burma. In addition, the monks hung large posters on the walls of the building that contained political slogans written in both Burmese and English.

Apparently at the behest of the government authorities, elderly Buddhist monks requested that the young protesters leave the grounds. Towards Tuesday evening, the protesting monks agreed to the request and moved to another monastery, in front of which they continued their protest.

U Marga, one of the five protesting monks, told The Irrawaddy that from 1-2 pm on Wednesday they once again used a loudspeaker to make political statements. He said that the he and his fellow protesting monks will continue until their demands are met.

Nearly 500 people gathered at the scene of the protest on Wednesday. Many of them signed a petition listing the monks' political demands, which will be sent to Burma's President Thein Sein.

According to U Marga, elderly monks from the monastery where they protested on Wednesday told them that their actions were not in line with the code of discipline for monks, and requested that they once again move to another location.

The authorities in Mandalay have yet to make any direct intervention in the protests, but rather have chosen to handle the issue with the help of elderly Buddhist monks, according to local sources. This may be an effort to avoid a repeat of the 2007 mass protests which were sparked by the government's harsh response to an anti-government march by Buddhist monk in the town of Pakkou in Central Burma.

The protests also come at a time when Burma's new quasi-civilian government is making tentative political and economic reforms while continuing to wage wars with ethnic minority groups, particularly in Kachin State, and detain many political prisoners.