Thousands of monks detained in Burma's main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC. About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.It seems the whole mess started on August 15 when the government doubled the price of fuel and quintupled the price of compressed used to power buses and the monks stepped in to help protest these unfair increases in basic living expenses:
The hikes hit Burma's people hard, forcing up the price of public transport and triggering a knock-on effect for staples such as rice and cooking oil. Pro-democracy activists led the initial demonstrations in Burma's main city, Rangoon. When about 400 people marched on 19 August, it was the largest demonstration in the military-ruled nation for several years. The monks started participating in large numbers after troops used force to break up a peaceful rally in the central town of Pakokku on 5 September. At least three monks were hurt. The next day, monks in Pakokku briefly took government officials hostage. They gave the government until 17 September to apologise, but no apology was forthcoming. When the deadline expired, the monks began to protest in much greater numbers and also withdrew their religious services from the military and their families. There have been protests every day since the deadline, both in Rangoon and elsewhere, and they are getting bigger by the day. Tens of thousands of monks are now involved.How will this War of the Wills end? Will the military government resign? Will the monks give in and stop protesting? Will the bloodshed continue without end?
Q: Well, what about the suggestion from your critics that while you won the war, the peace is being bungled? THE PRESIDENT: They're wrong. We're making great progress in Iraq. We've got a pretty steep hill to climb. After all, one, we're facing a bunch of terrorists who can't stand freedom. These thugs were in power for awhile, and now they're not going to be in power anymore, and they don't like it. And they're willing to kill innocent people. Their terrorist activities -- we'd rather fight them there than here.
been wanting to write about the massive -- in the hundreds of millions pounds -- recall of tainted pet food sold in America, but there hasn't been time for reflection and distance to help provide context and meaning of pet owners unwittingly killing their pets with food they purchase to keep them healthy.
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