Agence France-Presse,
Myanmar's junta slapped dusk-till-dawn curfews on the country's two largest cities late Tuesday after Buddhist monks defied warnings of a crackdown and led 100,000 people in another day of mass protests.
The edict, effective Wednesday in Yangon and Mandalay, came after the ruling generals — under pressure after eight straight days of peaceful protests led by the monks — sent truckloads of armed soldiers and riot police into Yangon.
“This order was issued because of the protests. Do not organise groups of more than five people,” the announcement said, reiterating a long-time ban on assemblies that has been ignored as the number of demonstrators has swelled.
The show of force, which could spark a showdown with protesters who pledged to take to the streets again Wednesday, came as US President George W. Bush ramped up the pressure by imposing fresh sanctions against the regime.
“Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear,” he told the UN General Assembly.
“The ruling junta remains unyielding, yet the people's desire for freedom is unmistakable.”
The new restrictions, which included the 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew and the designation of Yangon as a “restricted area”, were announced late Tuesday via loudspeakers mounted on government vehicles riding through Yangon.
The measures were to remain in effect for 60 days, the announcement said.
Myanmar's military government is facing the biggest public challenge to its rule since student-led rallies in 1988 were brutally repressed with the loss of hundreds if not thousands of lives.
On Tuesday, about 30,000 monks in saffron and red robes and 70,000 supporters set out from the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest shrine — marking the second straight day the protests had drawn 100,000 people.
Thousands linked hands to form a human chain around the monks, who prayed and chanted as they swarmed around city hall and the Sule Pagoda, while many more bystanders clapped and cheered from the sidewalks in the blistering sun.
“National reconciliation is very important for us. People and monks are gathering here, and the monks are standing up for the people,” famed poet Aung Way said in a speech to the crowd.
Some of the monks chanted “We want dialogue” or carried banners reading: “May people's desires be fulfilled.”
Large contingents of students joined the march, carrying the red flags emblazoned with yellow peacocks that symbolise the National League for Democracy (NLD) of detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We have no fear at all,” said one young protester. “This is the only thing we can do. We will continue to act according to Buddhist teachings in this protest.”
Demonstrators paused outside the United Nations office, where the monks called for the democracy icon to be freed from house arrest.
“Release Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners,” they chanted.
The NLD joined calls for a non-violent resolution to the crisis, saying: “The only way is through peaceful dialogue.”
Exiled groups reported that monks and their supporters had rallied right across the impoverished nation, as far as the western border with Bangladesh.
Clearly alarmed by two days of mass gatherings, state media bluntly ordered the monks to stay clear of politics, reinforcing government threats of a crackdown.
The clergy's revered status has made them rallying figures for public anger, which first erupted more than one month ago after a crippling hike in fuel prices, which left many here unable to even afford bus fare to get to work.
Analysts believe the junta, which has extended iron rule over Myanmar for more than four decades, has held back so far for fear that any violence against monks in this devoutly Buddhist nation would spark a huge outcry.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon opened the annual General Assembly summit in New York on Tuesday with a call to the Myanmar regime to “exercise restraint” in the face of the escalating pro-democracy protests.
In his speech to the assembly, Bush said the US would tighten economic sanctions on the leaders of the regime and their financial backers.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the situation would improve when Aung San Suu Kyi “takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma.” London later voiced support for the US sanctions.
China, one of the regime's closest allies, called for stability but said it would stick to its policy of non-interference.
