YANGON: About 50 pro-democracy supporters on Wednesday defied warnings from Myanmar's ruling military and marched through the streets of Yangon, demanding the release of at least a dozen detained activists.

The protesters, mostly women, were greeted with applause from bystanders and from people hanging out the windows of their apartments on a main road near downtown Yangon.

"We are marching on behalf of the people! We are marching on behalf of the arrested 88 Generation Students!" shouted Mimi, a leader of the march who gave only her nickname.

State media reported that 13 members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group had been arrested for leading 500 people on a march on Sunday through Yangon to protest a massive rise in fuel prices last week.

"Their agitation to cause civil unrest was aimed at undermining peace and security of the state," the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The paper accused the group of planning to instigate nationwide protests on Wednesday.

The 88 Generation Students group was created by former student leaders who spearheaded a pro-democracy uprising in 1988, which was crushed by the military with hundreds or even thousands believed killed.

The student leaders were all given lengthy prison sentences for their role in the uprising, but have returned to political activism as they have been released from prison over the last three years.

Pro-democracy activists said that as well as the 13 people named in state media, at least 10 others had also been arrested for calling for protests against the fuel price hike last week.

The sudden increase doubled transport costs overnight, leaving many people in Yangon struggling just to find enough money to get to work every day.

"The regime is trying to crack down on democracy activists and protests by arresting prominent leaders of the movement. Numbers of arrests will be more in the following days," said Aung Din, policy director for the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma.

Security was tightened around Yangon after the opposition National League for Democracy warned Monday that the government could face more protests.

Since their release from prison, the former student leaders have breathed new life into the NLD, which has been rudderless since the latest arrest of its leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

She has spent most of the last 17 years under house arrest. She helped lead the NLD to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the military has never recognised the results.


- AFP/so