Soldiers, including an army division that took part in the brutal suppression of a 1988 uprising, converged on the capital.

Cheered on by supporters, the monks marched out for an eighth day of peaceful protest from Yangon’s soaring Shwedagon Pagoda, while some 700 others staged a similar show of defiance in the country’s second largest city of Mandalay. “The protest is not merely for the well being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future,” a monk said, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from officials. “People will not tolerate the military government anymore.”

A monk, who appeared to be one of their leaders, addressed the crowd and said the protests would continue until the government apologised for the mistreatment of monks at an earlier demonstration in northern Myanmar. Tuesday’s protests came despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries.

The junta sent 10 truckloads of troops to Sule Pagoda, a focal point of the protests, including the one on Tuesday. According to an ethnic guerrilla commander, among the army divisions dispatched was the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorising the country.

“They could get there pretty quickly. By tomorrow, maybe today,” said Col Ner Dah Mya, a leader of the Karen National Union, which is fighting the central government. He was interviewed by telephone at the Thai-Myanmar border.

Warnings also were sent out against all illegal gatherings in a country where an assembly of more than five can amount to breaking the law.

In Mandalay, ordinary people were starting to join the monks or follow them on foot, motorcycles, bicycles and trishaws, though many still appeared too afraid to show their open support.