Monks in Meikhtila sent home to prevent protests

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
October 5, 2007

In a concerted bid to prevent student monks and novices from organizing further protests, junta authorities and senior monks in Meikhtila town of Mandalay division in central Burma have told them to go home immediately.

The abbots of the two largest monasteries in Meikhtila and local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), fearing that the young monks along with local residents might stage protests again in the town, ordered them on October 3 to pack and head for their home towns.

"The USDA members came to the monasteries and told Sayadaw (abbot) to tell the parents of the student monks to take them back home. They forcibly made the go home. The idea is to pre-empt fresh protests because the younger monks have said that if there is any one to lead them they are willing to hit the roads again in protest. But because the Sayadaw ordered them to go home, none has dared to start demonstrations again," a local resident, close to the monasteries, told Mizzima.

The two largest Monasteries in Meikhtila are home to nearly 400 young monks and novices each. The two monasteries combined have a strength of about 800 student monks. The town has about 13 smaller monasteries.

The orders of the authorities notwithstanding, several young monks are facing severe difficulties in travelling back home as their parents failed to turn up. They have no money for transportation fares, another local resident said.

"Some hail from remote places, and are finding it difficult to generate the travel fares. Some monks could not afford to call their parents. Moreover the USDA members are harassing them by coming to the monasteries and threatening arrest," added the local resident.