Junta Increases Security at Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org

March 21, 2008 - Security forces, including policemen, fire fighters and members of the civilian militia Swan-Ah-Shin, were increased in the area around Shwedagon Pagoda on Friday, which marks Taboung, or Full Moon Day, one Buddhism’s most sacred days.

Full Moon Day is celebrated each year with people flocking to the pagoda to pay homage, worship or to donate funds for the pagoda’s upkeep.

A local resident told The Irrawaddy that hundreds of policemen and soldiers with weapons have been positioned around the Damayones religious hall, where people gather for Buddhist rites. Military trucks are parked in the Damayones compound near the pagoda.

“Police, soldiers, fire fighters and Swan-Ah-Shin have been stationed at every stairway of the Shwedagon pagoda. The soldiers have red cloths wrapped around their neck,” she said. “Non-uniform military intelligence agents and police are going around the pagoda and clearly watching people whom they suspect.”

A monk told The Irrawaddy that the non-uniform military agents and police were watching monks who come to the pagoda.

“Security forces closed all entrances to the Shwedagon Pagoda and bales of rusted barbed wire are heaped on the street,” the monk said.

“The troops are taking over the pagodas,” said a woman resident. “It is as if they are guarding them like internment camps.”

Security forces were seen checking people’s ID cards and observing their prayers, according to residents.

Shwedagon Pagoda has frequently been a center of political activity since the Colonial Era when university students gathered there to plan strikes against the British. The September 2007 monk-led uprising started at the pagoda.

An Irrawaddy correspondent in Rangoon contributed to this report.