No one could have predicted the spectacular demonstrations that unfolded in Yangon and in other towns around the country in September — although the military’s deadly response was depressingly familiar.

The protests began in anger at an overnight hike in fuel prices on Aug. 15 which left many unable to afford even the bus fare to work.

The movement swelled three weeks later after soldiers beat a group of monks in the religious center of Pakokku and then refused to apologize.

After that, monks around the country began marching in the streets in their distinctive-colored robes — hence “saffron revolution” — against the regime in what snowballed into the biggest threat to the junta in nearly 20 years.

At the peak of the demonstrations, tens of thousands of monks led large crowds of protesters through the streets of Yangon on Sept. 24 and 25.

But when the military decided to crack down, the repression was brutal as security forces opened fire.

The government’s official toll is 10 dead, including a Japanese journalist, but a U.N. investigator said 31 had been killed with 74 missing.

Amnesty International estimates that of the thousands arrested, 700 remain behind bars along with 1,150 political prisoners already in detention.

Many monasteries are now closed or simply stand empty.

“The process of change in Myanmar is going to be long, painful and evolutionary. There simply isn’t a silver bullet,” said Zarni, a Myanmar exile and professor at Oxford University who goes by one name.

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