YANGON : About 40 pro-democracy protesters launched a new rally Thursday against Myanmar's military government, in the third protest this week against a massive hike in fuel prices.

Most of the protesters were members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by detained Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Just five minutes after they began their march, a group of about 20 supporters of Myanmar's military government blocked their path.

The two sides began shouting at each other in a tense standoff, and about 10 protesters were loaded into a truck and driven away.

The remaining protesters sat on the pavement and silently formed a human chain to resist arrest.

About 100 onlookers gathered to watch the standoff near downtown Yangon, the capital of the secretive country formerly known as Burma.

The latest protest followed a demonstration Wednesday by about 150 pro-democracy supporters who marched through northern Yangon in protest at last week's staggering hike in fuel prices, which doubled transport costs overnight.

The increase left many urban workers unable to afford even the bus fare to get their jobs.

About 500 people joined a similar march on Sunday, in what was the largest protest in the city in at least nine years.

The government says 13 people were arrested over that protest, including some of the nation's most prominent pro-democracy leaders.

Activists say at least 10 others have been jailed.

Such acts of defiance against the military regime are almost unheard of in Myanmar, where the military government deals harshly with dissent and keeps a tight grip on all the nation's media. - AFP/ch