Monks march for democracy in Myanmar

More than 2,000 Buddhist monks have staged a protest march in the Myanmar city of Sittwe to fight for democracy in the country.

It comes a day after soldiers fired teargas and warning shots to disperse a similar demonstration against Myanmar's ruling generals.

A witness in the northwestern coastal city said: "At least 2,000 monks are marching very peacefully, just chanting prayers and holy scriptures. No slogans, no demands."

Several thousand people watched the march in the South East Asian country, formerly known as Burma, but were reportedly told by the monks not to join in.

They were perhaps mindful of the warning implied in the military junta's rare admission it had used teargas and live ammunition to disperse Tuesday's march through the city.

The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece for the regime, said: "The protesters became very violent. So in order to control situation, the officials threw a teargas bomb into the group and opened fire in the air to threaten them."

The increasing involvement of monks, who were key players in a 1988 mass uprising, is a sign that the dissent that broke out in August, over shock fuel price rises, is intensifying.

The military has been at pains to keep itself in the background throughout the four weeks of sporadic protests, although soldiers did fire warning shots at one demonstration by monks in the central town of Pakokku two weeks ago.

The generals have favoured using civilian gangs and members of its feared Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) social network to break up protests.

Although Tuesday's marches fell far short of a nationwide boycott, monks marched in seven towns and cities, including Yangon, the commercial centre of the country and its former capital.

Plainclothes police and USDA members shadowed the monks along their route, taking photographs and video, but there was no trouble and no arrests, witnesses said.

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