More than 100 Buddhist monks march for first time since last month's crackdown

YANGON, Myanmar -- More than 100 Buddhist monks marched and chanted in northern Myanmar for nearly an hour Wednesday, in the first such march since the government's deadly crackdown last month on pro-democracy demonstrations, two monks said.

The monks in the town of Pakokku did not shout slogans or make political statements, but the town was the scene of some of the pro-democracy protests led by monks last month that were stamped out after troops opened fire on demonstrators during the Sept. 26-27 crackdown.

The monks started their march at Shwegu Pagoda in Pakokku, a center for Buddhist learning with more than 80 monasteries about 630 kilometers (390 miles) northwest of the country's commercial center of Yangon.

They marched for nearly one hour chatting Buddhist prayers without incident, and then returned to the respective monasteries, two monks said in telephone interviews.