These protests echo unrest in 1988, also sparked by economic woes
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Will Burma's military rulers listen to the endless pleas for restraint and dialogue? Could the regime crumble under the weight of popular anger, or through splits in the ranks of the armed forces?
Or will they succeed in terrorising the population into submission again through mass killings, as they did in 1988?
We simply do not know which of these scenarios is more plausible, because it is impossible to know the thinking of the tight clique of generals who run the country.
But there are "end-of-regime" scenarios we can look at in other countries; specifically Indonesia, a fellow member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean).
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk