A year after the failed monks-led uprising in September last year, and with the aftermath of May's traumatic cyclone still fresh, a despondent fear gripped Yangon again last Friday.

A bomb blast at City Hall the previous day had brought hundreds of policemen, soldiers, rolls of barbed wire and pro-government cadres on to the streets, clearly to prevent commemoration of the uprising which saw combat troops shoot at unarmed protesting civilians on the streets of the city.

A year ago, a flurry of outrage and diplomatic activity overseas - spurred by graphic images of the crackdown on network television and the front pages of newspapers - brought United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari to a city under lockdown after two nights of raids by soldiers on monasteries, which saw the arrest of hundreds.

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