Monks' Protests Target Burmese Generals

YANGON, Myanmar September 22, 2007, 9:29 a.m. ET · The wave of anti-government demonstrations sweeping Myanmar touched the doorstep of democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi Saturday as Buddhist monks marched past her home and said they were greeted by the detained political leader. The encounter, described by a monk to a crowd of anti-government protesters and confirmed by several witnesses, ties together a month-long movement of protest against the ruling military's economic policies with the country's decades-old uphill struggle for democracy.

It increases pressure on the ruling junta, which so far has decided to compromise with the demonstrators, whose numbers have grown as monks have begun spearheading the protests.

The current government came to power in 1988 after brutally suppressing mass pro-democracy demonstrations that had sought and end to military rule that began in 1962. Thousands were shot dead by solders, effectively terrorizing much of the country's population into submission.

But the government has been handling the monks gingerly, aware that forcibly breaking up their protests in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar would likely cause public outrage.

Police unexpectedly let more than 500 monks through at a roadblock on University Avenue where Suu Kyi's house is located. The monks stopped briefly in front of Suu Kyi's house and said some prayers before leaving at the other end of the street, said a resident, who asked not to be named for fear of being harassed by the authorities.

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