The activists . . . members of the 88 Generation Students group . . . marched for five miles in the north of the former capital, cheered on by many of the people who stood and watched. Some onlookers even joined in. The authorities videoed what was happening but took no action.

That protest was followed by others that attracted several hundred people, angered by an unexplained government decision on 15 August to increase the price of fuel drastically. Though modest in size, they were the biggest protests in Burma, a country transfixed by fear, for at least a decade.

The regime took swift action. Dozens of activists were seized in night raids, among them the group's leader, Paw U Tun, bestknown by the name Min Ko Naing, which translates as Conqueror of Kings. Naing was the unofficial leader of an 1988 uprising that almost brought down the regime and was jailed soon afterwards for 15 years. He was imprisoned once again in September last year and only released in January.

Now Naing and many of his colleagues involved in the August demonstrations . . . Min Zeya, Ko Ko Gyi, Kyaw Min Yu, Mya Aye, Htay Win Aung, Pyone Cho and Ant Bwe Kyaw . . . are again behind bars, the regime having realised their potential to lead others on the streets.

Wave of protests They are among around 120 people arrested and detained in a number of prisons . . .

including the notorious Insein Jail . . . before the latest wave of protests led by the monks.

The authorities accused them of "undermining stability and the security of the nation".

The absence of these charismatic individuals has been felt in recent days when, with the monks having been locked up or trucked back to their villages, civilians on the streets of Rangoon have lacked leadership. Western diplomats in Rangoon say it is precisely because of their ability to rally others that these members of the 88 Students Generation group were arrested.

Much of the attention in recent days has been paid to the National League for Democracy (NLD), the political opposition group headed by the imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi. Many NLD members have been involved in the protests and a number of senior figures have been arrested. But it has been the 88 Generation Students who have been pressing the hardest for action against the regime . . . and who have been at the forefront of the direct action.

But the strange, secretive group of generals who have ruled for the past four decades have evidently not lost their taste for spilling the blood of their subjects. Reports have put the number of deaths last week anywhere between a dozen and 200, though even if that upper number is correct, it falls far short . . . so far . . . of the estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people who lost their lives in 1988.

Like the activists opposing them, the generals in charge of the corrupt, faltering state are little known in the west.

The chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the regime styles itself, is Than Shwe (73), a former postal clerk who has served as head of state since 1992.

Initially considered more moderate than some of his colleagues, in recent years he has become increasingly hardline . . . refusing any sort of negotiation with the democracy movement and reportedly acting against former prime minister Khin Nyunt, who was arrested after proposing dialogue.

Stories of the regime's peculiar, paranoid behavior are legion. At 6.37am . . . a time fixed by Shwe's astrologer . . .

the regime two years ago upped and moved its capital from Rangoon 200 miles into the jungle at Naypidaw, without prior announcement.

Analysts pondered whether the decision might have been taken on security grounds but no particularly persuasive reason was given.

Perhaps the generals no longer wanted to be confronted by the conditions under which the populace of Burma were living. Once one of the region's most prosperous countries, it is now the poorest. The government barely spends anything on education or health care for its people. Malnutrition is common; child mortality rates are the highest in Southeast Asia.

When those dozen or so activists took to the streets six weeks ago, they knew there was a deep well of suffering and anger to tap into.