The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Yangon

Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks defied orders from the military junta to stay out of politics, relaunching mass protests Tuesday in the country's two biggest cities.

The monks, cheered on by supporters, marched out for an eighth day of peaceful protest from Yangon's soaring Shwedagon Pagoda, while some 700 others staged a similar show of defiance in the country's second largest city of Mandalay.

"The protest is not merely for the well being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future," one monk told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from officials. "People do not tolerate the military government any longer."

The demonstrations came despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries, and as pro-junta supporters in pickup trucks cruised Yangon warning that large crowds were illegal.

The protests in Yangon reached 100,000 on Monday, becoming the biggest demonstrations since a pro-democracy uprising 19 years ago. The authorities did not stop the protests Monday, even as they built to a scale and fervor that rivaled the 1988 uprising when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorizing the country.

The government, has been handling the monks gingerly, wary of raising the ire of ordinary citizens in this devout, predominantly Buddhist nation. But diplomats said troops have been discreetly deployed in downtown Yangon and could easily be called in against the protesters. Some schools in Yangon, the country's largest city, were closed.

Joining the monks Tuesday were members of the pro-democracy National League for Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi as well as university students.

They marched from Shwedagon to the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon - a distance of more than a mile - under a scorching sun.

Some party members carried flags of the fighting peacock, a symbol of the democracy movement, while students held a banner saying "Nonviolence, peaceful expression" in Burmese.

Following Monday's march, authorities in cars cruised Yangon's streets Tuesday, announcing that the clergy have been directed not to take part in "secular affairs" and saying that certain elements were trying to instigate unrest in the country.

Warnings also were sent out against all illegal gatherings in a country where an assembly of more than five can amount to breaking the law.

The government's New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted Religious Affairs Minister Brig. Gen. Thura Myint Maung as saying that protests by monks also had spread to cities like Mandalay, Hinthada and Monywa in seven of the country's 14 states and divisions.The demonstrations have escalated in just one week from a marginalized movement to mass protests drawing not only the monks but people from all walks of life.

In Mandalay, ordinary people were starting to join the monks or follow them on foot, motorcycles, bicycles and trishaws, though many still appeared too afraid to show their open support

"I support the monks. However, if I join them, the government will arrest me," said a man selling belts at a Mandalay market He declined to give his name, fearing reprisals from officials.

The head of the country's official Buddhist organization, or Sangha, issued a directive Monday ordering monks to stick to just learning and propagating the faith, saying young monks were being "compelled by a group of destructive elements within and without to break the law," the newspaper said.