Ongoing Protests in Myanmar

Buddhist monks have been protesting against the military regime for almost a week. More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets of Yangon on Thursday, whereas on Wednesday more than 2,000 had reportedly demonstrated in the harbour city of Sittwe. In Mandalay, the last royal capital and a Buddhist stronghold, more than 1,000 monks were seen on the streets, supported by some of the city's inhabitants.

The protests were originally triggered by the government's decision to raise fuel prices by 500 percent in August. This move resulted in a dramatic increase in the cost of living.

No violence against monks

The military dictatorship, which has governed Myanmar since 1962 is showing reluctance to take action against the monks. In previous protests earlier this month, more than 200 demonstrators were arrested.

But this time, monks have been attacked by loyal party cadres and by the secret service, but the military and the uniformed police have so far held back.

Marc Farmaner, an expert from the Burma Campaign UK, attributed this reaction to the important role that Buddhism and its representatives play in Myanmar:

"These protests are going to be a lot more difficult for the regime to deal with because it's one thing to pick up and torture individuals, but in a Buddhist country like Burma, the regime is going to have a lot more difficulty if it opens fire on monks -- if it is imprisoning and torturing monks. That's something that will provoke a lot more anger in the country and so it's going to be a lot more difficult to see how the regime will deal with this."

Not intimidated

"People are not being intimidated," Farmaner said. "They are still taking to the streets, and that's very significant. Different sections of Burmese society are protesting: student leaders, political activists, and now we are seeing the monks getting active as well. And that is going to give the people in the country a lot more confidence."

However, experts say, not only the striking demonstrations of the red-clad monks are causing alarm to the government and military officials. They are also disconcerted by the fact that the monks are refusing to accept their alms.

Reminiscent of 1988

A similar boycott took place in Myanmar during student uprisings in 1988, which were brutally put down by the military regime. Some experts estimate that more than 3,000 people lost their lives.

Clearly, the monks consider the current political situation to be equally critical because the measures they have adopted are unusual and very severe in the Buddhist context.

International action

While the situation in Myanmar is growing more and more acute, observers have urged the UN Security Council to come to a resolution before the situation takes a turn for the worse.

"That's why it is so important that the Security Council addresses the situation," insisted Marc Farmaner. "And we hope that they will discuss again a resolution on Burma because a resolution on Burma was vetoed by China in January. But we need to see another attempt to get a resolution passed -- something that will be binding and force the regime to actually implement reforms because we have had twenty years of promises and twenty years of lies from the regime, and not a single political democratic reform in all that time, and that has to change."

But regardless of the international reactions, the monks are determined to continue their protests. Further country-wide protests in the next few days have already been announced.