In Rangoon, Burma, a rare and audacious protest by Buddhist monks against the military junta, against one the world's most repressive regimes, a regime presiding over one of the world's least free and most crisis-ridden economies.

The Burmese military junta insisted today it has no plans to crack down on Buddhist monks who took to the streets for a fourth day of protests, continuing the most sustained challenge to the government in more than a decade. Some 200 monks marched in heavy rain from the outskirts of Rangoon to the country's holiest shrine, the Shwedagon pagoda, which has served as a traditional gathering place for anti-government protests, including the failed 1988 democratic uprising.This week's marches have breathed new life into a protest movement that began when the junta raised fuel prices last month. The protests reflect the simmering discontent with the repressive regime and have become the biggest challenge to the junta since the student demonstrations of December 1996. Fears of a crackdown against the monks have been growing but a government spokesman insisted it had no plans to use force. "The Myanmar government will not declare a state of emergency. You can see the government handles the situation peacefully," the information ministry spokesman, Ye Htut, said.

"Peacefully" only so long as the world is watching.

Tags: burma