Bangkok, Thailand - Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and supporters today defied a government warning in Myanmar and returned to the streets for an eighth day of peaceful antigovernment protests.
For the first time since protests began on Aug. 19, the government began to issue warnings and to move security forces into positions in Yangon, the largest city and former capital. Witnesses said they saw truckloads of soldiers apparently moving into position in Yangon.
It was the most ominous situation that the protesters had seen during a month of demonstrations that were sparked by a sharp fuel price increase in mid-August and have swelled into a huge outpouring that has filled the streets of several cities, although as evening fell the day’s protests dispersed without incident.
Official vehicles patrolled the streets calling on monks to return to their temples, inserting a government presence into streets that had been largely given over to huge waves of protesters. “People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches,” the announcements said. “Action will be taken against those who violate this order.”
Diplomats in Yangon said uniformed security personnel were moving discreetly into the city, where they had not been visible in past days.
According to one report, five army trucks, each capable of carrying 50 soldiers, were parked less than a kilometer from City Hall and the Sule Pagoda, which has been one gathering place for demonstrators.
The plaza between the two buildings was the scene of the first killings in 1988, when the government crushed a similar pro-democracy protest at the cost of as many as 3,000 lives.
Reuters reported that an ethnic militia that has been fighting a decades-long guerrilla war said that government troops had been withdrawn from their remote jungle area.
“The government has ordered the 22nd Division troops to pull out of Karen state and return to Yangon,” Colonel Nerda Mya of the Karen National Union told the news agency. “We believe the troops will be used as in 1988.”
Troops from remote areas, unfamiliar with current events in the big cities, were deployed at that time in the killings of civilians.
There were also concerns that the government might use provocateurs to stir violence and justify a crackdown, as it did in 1988. The Burma Campaign UK said its sources had reported the junta ordering large numbers of maroon monastic robes and telling soldiers to shave their heads, possibly to infiltrate the monks.
Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, a coalition of opposition groups based in Thailand, assessed the position of the Burmese junta.
“They are in a difficult situation,” he said. “Can their troops be relied on when the situation becomes critical? What happened in 1988 was that they called in troops from remote areas and then staged unrest and told the soldiers they were followers of the Communist Party of Burma.”
According to reports from inside Myanmar, which is mostly closed to foreign reporters, the cheers and the vigor of the day’s demonstrations were as strong as ever, but with a new sense of trepidation over the possibility of a violent crackdown.
Some of the monks reportedly carried small banners that summarized the grievances of the public: “Sufficiency in food, clothing and shelter, national reconciliation, freedom for all political prisoners.”
The government-controlled press broke its silence on the week of protests by monks and their supporters, warning them to go home.
On Monday, the head of the official Buddhist organization, the Sangha, directed monks to confine themselves to learning and propagating the faith. It said young monks were being “compelled by a group of destructive elements within and without to break the law,” according to The New Light of Myanmar, an official newspaper.
It also quoted the religious affairs minister, Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung, as saying that protests by monks had also spread to cities like Mandalay, Hinthada and Monywa in seven of the 14 states and divisions.
In televised comments on Monday night, he told religious leaders to restrain the protesting monks or face unspecified action against them by the government. The minister was quoted by the newspaper as saying these “destructive elements” included the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy advocate who is being held under house arrest; remnants of the now-defunct Communist Party; and some foreign radio stations.
“The authorities concerned are handling the current situation with care and the least mistakes,” he said.
Foreign governments and human rights groups warned of possible bloodshed. “The regime has a long history of violent reactions to peaceful demonstrations,” Gareth Evans, head of the International Crisis Group, said in a statement.
“If serious loss of life is to be averted, those United Nations members with influence over the government are going to have to come together fast,” he said in an allusion to China, Russia and India.
China, the nation with the most influence over Myanmar because of its trade and economic ties, today repeated its public stance of noninterference in Myanmar’s internal affairs.