Junta Arrests Prominent Abbot U Gambira

November 18, 2007

Author: Mungpi

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Mizzima News

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5368,0,0,1,0

Sayadaw (abbot) U Gambira, a prominent Buddhist clergy, who took a leading role in the August and September peoples' protest in Burma was arrested by the authorities in Rangoon, after a month in hiding, a source told Mizzima.

The police have been in hot pursuit of U Gambira, who took to the streets and led several thousand fellow monks on the streets of Rangoon in September.

He has been accused of masterminding the anti-regime demonstrations, which began over the peoples' agitation against the fuel price hike in mid-August.

Despite being on the run, the Buddhist clergy spoke to the world of the recent protests and the brutal crackdown by the ruling junta by writing an article, which appeared as an editorial on the Washington Post.

U Gambira was arrested the same day his article appeared on the Washington Post on November 4, the source said.