Saffron Revolution – An inside chronology of events

Saffron Revolution – An inside chronology of events

King Zero (Ashin Issariya) details the sequence of events that led to the Saffron Revolution of 2007.

On 4 September 2007, U Gambira arrived in Mandalay to meet with me and other progressive monks. We wanted to discuss what we could do for our country.
On 5 September, a situation happened in Pakokku, Magwe Division. A monk was beaten. Over 500 monks marched on the streets. The military regime beat and tortured the monks. Many were arrested and sent to jail.

Sangha Samammghi Meeting in Mandalay. From left: King Zero, U Aubhatha, U Kheminda (K Kesara). Photo by U Gambira

So we had a meeting in Mandalay: U Gambira, U Kheminda, U Lin, me, and another friend. We discussed what we could do. What would be a good way to respond to the military’s brutality. We wrote a statement. “We monks are using a non-violent way. We are only walking on the streets and sending loving-kindness to all beings. But the military regime answers with torture and beating. The military regime must apologize for this.” U Kheminda read this statement to the BBC and VOA. U Gambira and I went to an Internet shop and sent it to all our friends. Later, we printed it out and shared the copies to our students, friends, and to all monasteries. We spread it everywhere.
Soon, some informers found out about this because the statement was everywhere in Mandalay. Someone started to follow me. I explained to U Gambira and U Kheminda that if I stayed in Mandalay, they would catch me and eventually catch them too.
I decided to go to Rangoon. Rangoon was important too. I had a lot of friends in Rangoon, and could try to distribute the statement there. So we discussed how we could continue to work together while I was in Rangoon. Through phone, Internet and messenger.
When I arrived in Rangoon, I started to share our pamphlets with the help of my friends to all monasteries. Two days later, U Pannasiri came to Rangoon too. He also spread the statement widely. U Gambira called U Pannasiri and told him to come to Mandalay. He went to Mandalay to work together with U Gambira.
I stayed in Rangoon, preparing for a peace walk. But the military regime never apologized. We had given a deadline date of 17 September. So U Gambira sent me a boycott letter. In the letter he wrote that we would never accept offerings or invitations from the military regime, or associate with them in any way. I printed and copied that letter, and gave it to U Obata. U Obata is one of the leaders of the All Burma Monks Alliance. We shared this letter to all monasteries.

On 18 September, 15 monks recited this boycott letter. I recorded this and sent it to U Sopaka. U Sopaka sent it to Radio Free Asia to inform them that we were starting a boycott inside Burma.
Later monks started to walk on the streets. On 18, 19, and 20 September, many monks and people participated. It became bigger and bigger.
On 26 September the military started to shoot, beat, and torture monks on the streets. Monks were arrested and sent to jail. I think the authorities arrested more than 1,000 monks at that time. They entered over 60 monasteries. Every night. They forced the senior monks to send the young monks back to their villages. They said, “If you don’t send the young monks back home, we will close your monastery, and we will arrest you and send you to jail.” Even though the abbots did not want to send the junior monks back home, they did it because they were afraid.
On the evening of 28 September, I went into hiding in another place. When I got back to Rangoon, I started to use the Internet again and tried to continue my political work. I finally had to leave Burma in 2008.
http://www.thebestfriend.org/2011/09/24/saffron-revolution-%E2%80%93-an-inside-chronology-of-events/#more-10090
For a more details please also read:
- U Gambira and King Zero: The Minds behind the Saffron Revolution
- What is the All Burma Monks Alliance, and Who are its Founders?
- Leaked U.S. Cable: Than Shwe gave order to kill monks