Defying a ban on gatherings of more than four people imposed by the new military regime on Monday night, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators converged on the Hledan Junction near University Avenue and Pyay Road in Yangon on the fourth day of a nationwide uprising against last week’s coup.
Several trucks full of soldiers were positioned near the protest site and police blocked the protesters from entering University Avenue. Tensions between the police and anti-coup protesters calling for the restoration of democracy intensified on Tuesday morning.
Peaceful protests in the capital Naypyitaw, Mandalay and other cities had met with violent crackdowns by the afternoon. Police fired both live ammunition and rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters in Naypyitaw and used water cannons and tear gas to stifle the demonstrations in Mandalay.
