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YANGON: About 300 Buddhist monks on Sunday held a prayer vigil in Magway town, witnesses in the northern city said, the latest in nearly a week of sustained protests against the military government by the revered clergy.
People in the town about 375 kilometres (230 miles) north of the commercial hub Yangon said that the monks protested for about an hour before dispersing.
Since Tuesday, marches against military rule have attracted thousands of young monks to the streets of Yangon and other cities including Mandalay, in the biggest challenge to the junta's rule in nearly two decades.
On Saturday, the army allowed about 2,000 monks and civilians to pass a roadblock and gather by the lakeside Yangon home of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who greeted them from the house where she has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years.
After days of protests in heavy rain, the skies cleared and the sun shone Sunday morning.
Monks are rumoured to be planning another march at midday, while one underground group has called for nationwide prayer vigils to begin.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, meanwhile, derided the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi as "incompetent and seeking political gain."
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military never recognised the result and tried to silence Aung San Suu Kyi by keeping her under house arrest. - AFP/ac
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