Word: pagodas
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...much of late September, the road to the eastern gateway of Rangoon's revered Shwedagon pagoda was a sea of maroon and saffron robes, as hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered to march in protest against Burma's military government...
...entrance of the hilltop temple, the spiritual center of Burmese Buddhism. As many as a thousand monks lived and studied at these small monasteries in the shadow of Shwedagon. But troops now far outnumber the handful of monks that are still seen at Shwedagon and the downtown Sule pagoda, another focal point of the pro-democracy protests...
...monks dress their wounds and begin their march downtown. They are pursued by trucks full of soldiers, who are jeered and pelted with rocks as they approach the Sule Pagoda. Again the soldiers fire over the protesters' heads. As dusk approaches, the crowds disperse. Nighttime Rangoon is usually a vibrant place, its sidewalks crowded with tea shops. Now nobody wants to be out after dark...
Only a handful of monks escape the junta's dragnet to join that day's demonstration near the Sule Pagoda. But there are thousands of protesters when I arrive. More military trucks pull up at the intersection, and the troops inside noisily cock their rifles. The crowd tenses as one. Seconds later, there are more smoke bombs, and we are running for our lives...
Riot police are marching north up Sule Pagoda Road, banging truncheons against shields. Behind them is an even more menacing sight: hundreds of troops marching in formation. Between the two groups is a truck with loudspeakers that announce the street is to be cleared. Miraculously, despite the bloodshed, people are still protesting, still chanting their defiant mantra: Let everyone be free from harm...