A/HRC/6/14 page 24 Annex CHRONOLOGY AND FACTS: THE PEACEFUL PROTESTS OF SEPTEMBER 2007 (18-25 SEPTEMBER 2007) On 18 September, monks gathered at 9 am at the Shwedagon Pagoda to prepare the demonstration. At 1 pm a group of about 300 monks gathered at the southern stairway. The access to stairway was blocked by burly plain-clothed unarmed individuals who formed a cordon. The monks, after hesitating, marched instead to the downtown Sule Pagoda, then Botahtaung Pagoda, gathering several hundred lay followers as they went. Similar marches were held on subsequent days, gaining momentum every day despite torrential monsoon rains. One monk at the front of the procession held an upturned alms bowl, a symbol of religious boycott. There was no visible uniformed security presence, although plain-clothes personnel photographed and videoed the marchers. However, over the weekend of 22-23 September, the nature of the demonstrations shifted, becoming much larger in scale and more overtly political, thus posing a level of challenge to the regime that it must have found impossible to ignore. A highly symbolic moment in this regard occurred on 22 September, when a group of protesters were permitted to pass a police checkpoint and pass by the house of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who briefly appeared at her gate to greet them. By 24 September, the demonstrations in Yangon involved thousands of people led by monks. The same day, monks, nuns and students reportedly staged the largest demonstration so far in Sittwe (Rakhine state) demanding a reduction in essential commodities prices. The general population in Yangon was becoming more defiant, increasingly taking part in the demonstrations rather than watching the monks or escorting them. Students, prominent political actors (from NLD and the ethnic political parties represented in the Committee Representing People’s Parliament) and well-known personalities (actors, artists, writers) were joining the demonstrations, in some cases carrying red “fighting peacock” flags, a symbol of resistance. Comedian and former political prisoner Zaganar the movie star Kyaw Thu, and independent politician U Win Naing publicly offered food and drink to the monks before they started their march from Shwedagon. That evening, in the first reaction to the week of monk-led demonstrations, the authorities announced on television that further demonstrations would not be tolerated, and that action would be taken “according to the law”. A statement by the Minister for Religious Affairs was carried on state television. No details were given concerning which laws he was referring to, but para. (b) of Order 2/88 of 18 September 1988 prohibits unauthorized public assembly of five or more persons (it should be noted that other provisions of Order 2/88 have been abrogated); and Order 6/90 of 20 October 1990 bans all unlawful Sangha (Buddhist monk) organizations, except the nine legal Buddhist sects. A number of other laws prohibit criticism of the Government or otherwise curtail freedom of expression.a a The Official Secrets Act of 1923, the Burma Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933, Section 122, Penal Code of Burma, the Law Protecting the Peaceful and Systematic Transfer of State Responsibility and the Successful Performance of the Functions of the National Convention against Disturbances and Oppositions, Emergency Provisions Act of 1950, the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962, State Protection Law of 1975 (a.k.a. the “Law to Safeguard