Burmese Protesters Defy Military Warning to Continue Marches Against Ruling Junta

In Burma, the ruling military junta is facing the most vocal popular uprising against its rule in nearly two decades. Tens of thousands of monks and civilians defied military warnings and staged new anti-government protests on Tuesday in the city of Rangoon. As many as 100,000 protesters took to the streets a day earlier. Buddhist monks dressed in maroon robes have been leading the marches. They have vowed to continue holding marches until they have "wiped the military dictatorship from the land." The protests are the largest in Burma since 1988 when the military junta crushed a popular uprising by killing some 3,000 people.

Over the weekend, monks marched to the home of Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest since 2003. Military authorities allowed Suu Kyi to briefly greet and pray with the monks. It was her first public appearance in more than four years.

On Monday, the ruling junta warned that it was ready to take action against the monks to break up the protests. It repeated its warning in state media on Tuesday, ordering monks not to get involved in politics and accusing them of allowing themselves to be manipulated by the foreign media.

President Bush is expected to announce new sanctions on the Burmese junta in a speech later today.

• Tom Casey, State Department spokesperson.

We take a look at the situation in Burma with Jeremy Woodrum, co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma.

• Jeremy Woodrum, co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma. He has helped spearhead a successful nationwide boycott of the Burmese military government and organized delegations to visit refugee camps near the Burma-Thailand border.

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