Five monks staged a rare protest in army-dominated Myanmar on Tuesday, witnesses said, drawing a crowd of about 500 people with calls for peace and the immediate release of political prisoners.The monks locked themselves in a building on a religious compound in the central town of Mandalay and were using loudspeakers to spell out their demands a day after an expected amnesty for political prisoners failed to materialize.
The protesting monks unfurled banners in English and Burmese reading: 'We want freedom', 'Free all political prisoners' and 'Stop civil war now' - a reference to the decades-long conflict between the army and ethnic minorities.A Myanmar government official confirmed the protest was taking place, telling AFP that the five monks were from Yangon, not Mandalay. 'Local monks are trying to negotiate with them to solve the problem,' he said.No police had arrived at the scene yet, a witness said, adding that a large group of people, including many monks, was sitting on the ground outside the compound and 'listening peacefully' to the protest.
REF: Straitstimes.com
