YANGON, Sept 15: Myanmar’s state media on Saturday labelled leaders of recent anti-junta protests “devils” and accused them of trying to corrupt young monks, some of whom joined the rare demonstrations.

A senior Buddhist monk wrote in a junta-run newspaper that clergy should stay away from the rallies, which began on Aug 19 after an unexpected rise in fuel prices.

Protest organisers were “devils” who had “spoiled the pure mind of some young monks who started to make street protests,” the monk wrote in the New Light of Myanmar article.

“It is so disgusting that those destructive elements have tried to tarnish the noble and pure minds of young monks,” he wrote, under the pen name “Yadanasi Sayadaw.” The recent string of protests prompted a harsh crackdown from the junta, which has arrested up to 150 people.—AFP