Word: rangoons
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...people. But the '88 uprising was quickly forgotten by the international community. I am again worried that Burma's problems will be soon forgotten. I was not there in person this time, but the images of the monks and nuns demonstrating on the streets of Rangoon made me cry. Religion is all that the Burmese have had since the military came to power in 1962. And being a Buddhist, I consider the government's mistreatment of the monks beyond disgusting. Ma Hnin Thurein, Almería, Spain...
...junta--he refused even to talk to pro-democracy leaders--helped foster the climate that in recent weeks has prompted widespread demonstrations led by Buddhist monks and the arrests of thousands. Prime Minister General Soe Win first impressed his bosses in 1988 when he brutally quashed an uprising at Rangoon University by ordering troops to open fire on protesters. He later earned the moniker "Butcher of Depayin" for masterminding a bloody 2003 attack on democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. He was 59 and had leukemia...
...netted the authorities some 513 monks, one novice, 167 men and 30 women. The monks were summarily defrocked and interrogated and those found to be innocent were re-ordained and sent back to their monasteries. While the paper said that only 118 monks and laymen were still in custody, Rangoon's pagodas remain empty and quiet; many say the figures are much higher than the state has reported. One Rangoon resident told me that the remaining prisoners will probably be released once the situation calms down, which he believed would be at least a couple of months...
...such an outcome, the generals are waging a propaganda war to win back Burmese hearts and minds. Burma's state-run television broadcast footage over the weekend of military officers and their wives presenting gifts of rice and cash to an assembly of forlorn-looking, elderly Buddhist patriarchs in Rangoon. On Sunday, The New Light of Myanmar assured readers that the military was only targeting "bogus" monks and demonstration leaders with its purges. "Although authorities and security members pay respects to the real monks, they had to take action against those bogus monks trying to tarnish the image...
...Tuesday I noticed two elderly Buddhist nuns accepting alms at a large house on the outskirts of the city, the first adult clergy members I had seen doing this all week. But my line of sight was momentarily blocked by an image that better sums up a week in Rangoon in the aftermath of the pro-democracy protests. A fast-moving police wagon passed the two nuns; the arms of the detainees inside protruded through gaps in two iron grills along the vehicle's side...