Myanmar Protests Enter 4th Day

Buddhist monks march in the rain along Waizayantar road in the western Yangon suburb of Ahlone Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. Buddhist monks staged peaceful protest marches for a second day, challenging authorities who used tear gas and fired warnings shots to break up some protests a day earlier. (AP photo) (AP)

Rumors that a state of emergency had been declared were denied by a government spokesman.

"You can see the government handling the situation peacefully," the Information Ministry's Ye Htut said in an e-mail.

"Anti-government groups want to see the state of emergency because their objective is to exploit and provoke the Sangha (monks), students, workers and innocent people," and to provoke riots and anarchy, he said. "So they use rumors to destabilize the situation."

While many bystanders clasped their hands together in a traditional gesture of respect as the procession passed, others joined in to march with the monks.

Witnesses said the number of marchers swelled to as many as 5,000 by the end, many of them linking arms in a human chain to protect the monks from outside agitators.

The protests express long pent-up opposition to the repressive regime and have become the most sustained challenge to the junta since a wave of student demonstrations that were forcibly suppressed in December 1996.

The junta's crackdown on the protesters has drawn increasing criticism from world leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Bush. They have called for the government to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for more than 11 of the past 18 years.

The U.N.'s envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, focused on the protests in a Security Council briefing Thursday.

"The developments over the last few weeks in Myanmar have raised serious concerns in the international community and once again underscore the urgency to step up our efforts to find solutions to the challenges facing the country," Gambari told the council, according to a U.N. account of the closed session.

Gambari said he was very concerned about protesters who have been detained and expressed hope for their release.

The demonstrations had been faltering, with about 200 protesters being detained, before the monks entered the fray.

Monks angered over being manhandled at a Sept. 5 demonstration in Pakokku in north central Myanmar had threatened to take to the streets unless the junta apologized. The regime remained silent, so they launched protests around the country on Tuesday that have been steadily growing.