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YANGON: Myanmar's military government squashed a new protest on Friday by pro-democracy supporters in downtown Yangon, as activists said the demonstrations had spread to other parts of the country.

A group of 20 demonstrators, mainly women, had gathered near Yangon's city hall to rally against a massive hike in fuel prices that has sparked the most sustained protests against the junta in at least nine years.

"They were arrested before they could do anything. They had just started walking," said an activist who witnessed the arrests.

The protesters were taken inside city hall, which is under tight security and surrounded by barricades and transport trucks, the activist added.

Dozens of people have already been arrested over protests this week, including some of the country's most prominent pro-democracy activists.

But they are undeterred by the crackdown and have vowed to rally again.

"There will be more protests. We are trying to hold more protests in the future. But right now we have to make a plan, because we don't want to lose our strength," one activist said.

Myanmar's repressive junta keeps a tight lid on any dissent but analysts say the regime has been shaken by the protesters' persistence.

About 500 people marched through Yangon on Sunday having been angered by last week's fuel price increase, which doubled transport fares and left many workers unable to afford even the bus fare to get to their jobs.

The march was followed by more rallies on Wednesday and Thursday, both of which ended with police arresting many of the protesters.

Activists say that dozens have been detained this week, although the government has confirmed the arrests of only 13 members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group.

The group is made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against military rule in 1988, which ended with soldiers firing into the crowd and killing thousands.

Among those arrested was Min Ko Naing, considered Myanmar's most important pro-democracy leader after detained Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The arrests have been condemned internationally, with the United Nations urging the government to show restraint.

Despite the crackdown, activists say the protests have spread to other parts of the country.

Dozens of people belonging to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party staged protests on Thursday and Friday in the central town of Yenanchuang, 425 kilometres (260 miles) north of Yangon, an activist there told AFP by telephone.

The activist said local officials had agreed to return bus fares to their earlier levels, before the fuel price hike doubled transport costs around the country.

"We told the authorities that we will watch the situation," the activist said on condition of anonymity, adding that the NLD had been warned not protest again.

Analysts say the junta underestimated how angry the price hike has made the public, who have been coping with a moribund economy that critics say has been mismanaged by the ruling generals.


- AFP/so