Burmese government apologises to injured monks

The religious affairs minister Myint Maung said the incident at the mine was a "great grief", he but stopped short of apologising for the crackdown itself.
The sit-in by farmers and activists outside the Monywa copper mine had already attracted nationwide interest as a test of Burma's political openness before the police moved in to disperse them.
The operation resulted in at least 99 monks and 11 others suffering wounds including severe burns.
At a ceremony with some of the country's top clerics, Mr Maung "begged the pardon of wounded monks and novices", blaming the "incompetency" of the authorities, according to a report in state newspaper New Light of Myanmar.
However he said the demonstration had a "political" element and that the government was treating the wounded with a "clear conscience".
The pre-dawn raid on protest camps at the mine last month was the toughest clampdown on demonstrators since a reformist government came to power last year.
Human rights groups condemned it as reminiscent of the methods used by Burma's former military rulers.
About 100 police apologised to a group of monks in Monywa soon after the crackdown, but the move failed to calm the public mood.
Around 150 people and 40 monks marched through Rangoon on Saturday to protest the Monywa violence, the latest in a string of street demonstrations in the country's commercial hub and in the second largest city Mandalay in recent days.
"The monks are denouncing the brutal crackdown," Ye Min Oo, an activist at the rally, said.
"Many monks welcome the officials' apologies. But they also want them to say sorry in person to the injured monks."
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed by the government to lead a probe into the incident, as well as claims of evictions and pollution at the mine.
Earlier this week she said it was not yet clear what had caused the demonstrators' injuries, but suggested tear gas could be to blame.
The dispute at the Monywa mine centres on allegations of mass evictions and environmental damage caused by the project - a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings.
Activists are calling for work at the project to be suspended to allow impact studies to be carried out, but China insists that the contentious points have already been resolved.
Several people are being held without bail at Rangoon's infamous Insein prison over their involvement in other protests against the mine.
According to the New Light of Myanmar, Bhaddanta Kumarabhivamsa, one of the country's most senior monks, called upon all parties to ensure such incidents do not happen again "and try their utmost to behave themselves".

BBC/AAP