A/HRC/6/14 page 7 III. THE FACTS - CIRCUMSTANCES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS A. The peaceful protests of August 2007 16. On 19 August following the fuel price increases, several dozen people, including prominent “88 Generation” student leaders, marched through Yangon in peaceful protest. Small sporadic and peaceful demonstrations by social and political activists, continued over the following week, despite the arrest of over 100 people, including almost the entire leadership of the 88 Generation group, the former chairperson of the Burma Labour Solidarity Organization and Human Rights Defenders and Promoters leaders, former political prisoners, university students, members of the NLD and the Myanmar Development Committee. The authorities deployed SAS militia to quickly and forcibly disperse any gatherings of activists. B. The Pakokku incident: a turning point 17. The fuel hike caused large protests, but it was not until violence was used to quell a protest by Buddhist monks in Pakokku (Magway Division), about 600 kilometres north-west of Yangon, that the situation dramatically escalated. The town is a well-known religious centre in Myanmar, situated in a division that has seen a stark decline in the sustainability of livelihoods over the last decade. 18. On 5 September, a peaceful demonstration of Buddhist monks in Pakokku was forcibly dispersed by the police and the army, as well as SAS militia. A number of live rounds were reportedly fired over the heads of the monks, and members of the militia and the security forces then severely beat a number of monks, some of whom were first tied up. Rumours circulated that one of the monks had subsequently died, but this was never confirmed, though widely believed. The next day, the monks took as hostages a few military officials who went to the monastery, according to some reports, to order the Buddhist monks to stop participating in anti-Government marches, while other reports say they came to apologize to the monks. Vehicles were reportedly burned as the monks were angry over the arrest and beatings of monks during the peaceful protest the day before. 19. On 9 September, a newly-established group called the All Burma Monks Alliance (formed by a number of existing organizations of Buddhist monks in Myanmar) issued a statement containing four demands for the authorities: (a) to apologize for the Pakokku incident; (b) to reduce commodity and fuel prices; (c) to release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and those detained for recent protests; (d) to enter into a dialogue with democratic forces with a view to achieving national reconciliation and resolving the suffering of the people. The statement indicated that the authorities had until 17 September to comply with these demands or face a religious boycott. This choice of deadline was politically symbolic, since 18 September is the anniversary of the 1988 coup that brought the current military regime to power.