The rulers of the military regime of Myanmar (Burma) once again showed their ruthless disregard for human rights and the well being of their people when in August and September 2007, peaceful demonstrations against poor living standards were brutally crushed.
An initial spur of protests in mid-August against the hike in fuel and bus prices led by student leaders of the ’88 uprising was halted after most of them were detained.
A few weeks later, monks in the small town of Pokkuku demonstrating against the fuel hike and deteriorating living standards were stopped by police and military, who allegedly tied monks to a telegraph pole and beat them up.
As the news reached Yangon, monks there demanded that an official apology be made. When this did not happen, they took to the streets and practiced “overturning of the bowl” – effectively a boycott refusing to take alms from members of the armed forces and a powerful way of denying them from attaining merit in the devout Buddhist country.
