YANGON, Myanmar – Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks defied orders from the military junta to stay out of politics, relaunching mass protests today in the country’s two biggest cities.

The monks, cheered on by supporters, marched out for an eighth day of peaceful protest from Yangon’s soaring Shwedagon Pagoda, while some 700 others staged a similar show of defiance in the country’s second largest city of Mandalay.

“The protest is not merely for the well being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future,” one monk told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from officials. “People do not tolerate the military government any longer.”

The demonstrations came despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries, and as pro-junta supporters in pickup trucks cruised Yangon warning that large crowds were illegal.

The protests in Yangon reached 100,000 on Monday, becoming the biggest demonstrations since a pro-democracy uprising 19 years ago. The authorities did not stop the protests Monday, even as they built to a scale and fervor that rivaled the 1988 uprising when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorizing the country.

The government, has been handling the monks gingerly, wary of raising the ire of ordinary citizens in this devout, predominantly Buddhist nation.

But diplomats said troops have been discreetly deployed in downtown Yangon and could easily be called in against the protesters. Some schools in Yangon, the country’s largest city, were closed.

Joining the monks today were members of the pro-democracy National League for Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi as well as university students. They marched from Shwedagon to the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon — a distance of more than a mile — under a scorching sun.

Some party members carried flags of the fighting peacock, a symbol of the democracy movement, while students held a banner saying “Nonviolence, peaceful expression” in Burmese.

Following yesterday’s march, authorities in cars cruised Yangon’s streets Tuesday, announcing that the clergy have been directed not to take part in “secular affairs” and saying that certain elements were trying to instigate unrest in the country.

Warnings also were sent out against all illegal gatherings in a country where an assembly of more than five can amount to breaking the law.

The government’s New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted Religious Affairs Minister Brig. Gen. Thura Myint Maung as saying that protests by monks also had spread to cities like Mandalay, Hinthada and Monywa in seven of the country’s 14 states and divisions.

The demonstrations have escalated in just one week from a marginalized movement to mass protests drawing not only the monks but people from all walks of life.

In Mandalay, ordinary people were starting to join the monks or follow them on foot, motorcycles, bicycles and trishaws, though many still appeared too afraid to show their open support.

“I support the monks. However, if I join them, the government will arrest me,” said a man selling belts at a Mandalay market. He declined to give his name, fearing reprisals from officials.

The head of the country’s official Buddhist organization, or Sangha, issued a directive Monday ordering monks to stick to just learning and propagating the faith, saying young monks were being “compelled by a group of destructive elements within and without to break the law,” the newspaper said.

These agitators included members of the National League for Democracy, remnants of the defunct Burmese Communist Party and some foreign radio stations, the minister was quoted as saying.

“The authorities concerned are handling the current situation with care and the least mistakes,” the minister said.

Following yesterday’s Yangon protest, led by a phalanx of barefoot monks, the U.S. was poised to impose additional sanctions against Myanmar’s military rulers.

President Bush was to announce the sanctions against key members of the junta and those who provide them financial aid in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly, the White House said.

Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said it was significant that monks had joined the protests.

“Our hope is to marry that internal pressure with the external pressure coming from the United States and the United Nations and really all countries that are committed to freedom to try to force the regime into a change,” Mr. Hadley said.

America already restricts imports and exports and financial transactions with Myanmar. Washington also has imposed an arms embargo on Myanmar.

The current protests began August 19 after the government sharply raised fuel prices in what is one of Asia’s poorest countries. But they are based in deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military government that has ruled the country in one form or another since 1962.

The protests over economic conditions were faltering when the monks last week took the leadership and assumed a role they played in previous battles against British colonialism and military dictators.

At first the robed monks simply chanted and prayed. But as the public joined the march, the demonstrators demanded dialogue between the government and opposition parties, freedom for political prisoners, as well as adequate food, shelter and clothing.

The fleeting appearance of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi at the gate of the Yangon residence where she is under house arrest squarely identified the protests with the longtime peaceful struggle of her party, the opposition National League for Democracy. She has been under detention for 12 of the past 18 years.