At least 10,000 monks, cheered on by thousands of onlookers, marched in Yangon yesterday in what appeared to be growing into the biggest demonstration yet against the ruling generals. The maroon-robed monks began a sixth day of protests, the most serious against the generals in two decades, with prayers at the Shwedagon Pagoda (photo), the former Burma?s holiest shrine, then marched through the city. The march stretched for one kilometre as the monks entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of onlookers who joined them. ?People locked arms around the monks. They were clapping and chearing. They are asking for democracy,? one witness said. Some bystanders gave water to the monks, and some carried placards demanding better living conditions in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, national reconciliation and the immediate release of political prisoners.

The marchers included members of parliament elected in 1990 from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) for the first time, two days after a dramatic appearance of support for the monks by detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

What began as civilian anger at last month?s shock fuel price rises has become a wider religious-led movement against the generals, with one monk group calling for peaceful mass protests against the junta until its downfall.