The technology of rapid communication via handphones and the Internet is spreading video and photographs of the demonstrations both within and outside the country, and the junta can no longer operate in the shadows as it has in the past.

Myanmar's ruling junta has tried cutting off information about the protests by sealing off the country to foreign journalists and ordering state-controlled press not to carry any reports about the monks' demonstrations.

But information about the protests has been increasingly flowing out through electronic means which the government has found impossible to squelch.

'That's the big difference from 1988,' said Mr Dave Mathieson, an expert on Myanmar with Human Rights Watch in Thailand.

'The technology is completely different. Even though the military's power may be the same, the ability of the protesters to get their message around the country has grown.'

The readily accessible visual images have given what began as small demonstrations a disproportionate impact both abroad and at home.

Surreptitiously shot photographs and videos recorded on Sunday, for example, showed thousands of civilians marching quickly through the streets side by side with the monks.

NEW YORK TIMES