YANGON, Myanmar – A stream of protesters, many of them Buddhist monks clad in saffron robes, trickled through the capital Monday as part of what observers here say is a growing movement against the government’s brutal crackdown on strikers at a Chinese-backed copper mining project in the northwest.

Hundreds of protesters carried placards and chanted a phrase that has become their slogan: “Violence is not the solution.” 

President Obama has announced that he will visit Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on his tour of Southeast Asia at the end of this month. Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit the Southeast Asian nation.

The president’s visit will be the strongest endorsement from the international community since Myanmar’s government began a democratization process last year. But critics are calling the visit premature. Despite Sein’s reforms, which have minimized media censorship, strengthened local currency and initiated peace talks with rebel groups, much of Myanmar remains unchanged.