Myanmar junta warns against more protests
3 hours ago

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar’s military regime warned its people Tuesday not to join a swelling nationwide protest movement that has escalated into the most potent threat to their hardline rule in nearly 20 years.

Local government officials using loudspeakers rode trucks through central Yangon warning against new anti-junta protests, a day after Buddhist monks led 100,000 people onto the streets of the country’s biggest city.

State media bluntly ordered the monks to stay clear of politics, mirroring government threats of a crackdown carried on state television late Monday.

Analysts said Chinese pressure has helped prevent a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests but China cannot restrain its allies in Yangon indefinitely, .

Myanmar’s military government, which usually comes down hard on challenges to its rule, has so far done little more than stand by as the protests swelled into the biggest threat to its authority in 20 years.

Although state media and officials Tuesday warned against further rallies, observers attribute the junta’s restraint thus far partly to the influence of Beijing.

China has been vital in keeping the regime afloat through its trade ties, arms sales and by protecting it against UN sanctions for alleged human rights abuses.

But earlier this month, Beijing — wary of being associated with bloodshed that could tarnish its status as hosts of next year’s Olympic Games — urged Myanmar to maintain “stability” in the current crisis.

The message, delivered to visiting Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win, was widely viewed as an appeal for restraint.

More protests were still expected Tuesday, again led by the clergy whose revered status has made them rallying figures for public anger that erupted more than one month ago after a crippling hike in fuel prices.

“We warn the monks and the people not to participate in protest marches,” local government officials shouted as they circled around the nation’s commercial hub.

“We will take action under the existing law,” they said.

The BBC’s Burmese Section reported marches in central Mandalay and Mogok towns, as well as in western Sittwe and Kyauktaung in the far south near the Thai-Myanmar border.

Rallies representing the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades have spread around the country, with protests reported as far away as the northern tip of Myanmar and near the western border with Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s official media confirmed Tuesday that protests have taken place in seven of the nation’s 14 provinces, but gave no details.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said that all clergy “are directed to avoid getting involved in party politics and instigation.”

State media said protests had taken place in seven of the 14 provinces, and accused foreign media of instigating the marches.

Monday’s protests in Yangon were the biggest public show of dissent here since student-led rallies in 1988 were brutally repressed. There were marches also in the central city of Mandalay, the oil town of Sittwe and elsewhere.

The warnings came as world leaders urged the regime to show restraint and were expected to use the annual general debate at the UN General Assembly, opening Tuesday in New York, to push for democratic reforms.

The White House said US President George W. Bush would use his speech there to announce new US sanctions on key regime figures and their backers.

US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the sanctions would include a visa ban on certain individuals and their families, and financial sanctions.

Hadley said Bush would urge other countries to join in a campaign “to try and force the regime into a change.”

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, urged regime leaders “who believe in Buddhism to act in accordance with the sacred dharma in the spirit of compassion and non-violence.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar authorities “to continue to exercise restraint.”

The generals have normally been tough on dissent, and their 1988 crackdown left hundreds — if not thousands — dead.

Analysts believe the junta has held back so far for fear that any violence against monks in this devoutly Buddhist nation would spark a huge outcry.

Late Monday, however, Myanmar’s religion minister, Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung, issued a warning to senior clergy.

“If the monks go against the rules and regulations in the authority of the Buddhist teachings, we will take action under the existing law,” he was quoted as saying by state television.

Pictures of the protests — monks, often barefoot, shielded by supporters and chanting and praying — have gone around the world, opening a rare window on a nation whose regime normally crack down hard on any sign of protest.

The monks and their supporters in Yangon walked by the offices of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern.

NLD officials came out to pay respects and then join the marchers, many of whom fixed small strips of the monks’ robes onto their own shirts.

In a surprise move on Saturday, armed police allowed about 2,000 monks and civilians to pray outside Aung San Suu Kyi’s home, and she stepped out in tears to greet the crowd.

However riot police have again imposed a blockade there since Sunday, with state television saying the rally outside her lakeside home had “complicated” the situation.