Police in Myanmar have moved to disperse protests by opponents of military rule and one woman was shot and killed, media reported, after the country's UN envoy urged the United Nations to use "any means necessary" to stop the 1 February coup.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.
Uncertainty has grown over Ms Suu Kyi's whereabouts, as the independent Myanmar Now website yesterday quoted officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party as saying she had been moved this week from house arrest to an undisclosed location.
The coup has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to Myanmar's streets and drawn condemnation from Western countries, with some imposing limited sanctions.
Police were out in force in the main city of Yangon and elsewhere today, taking up positions at usual protest sites and detaining people as they congregated, witnesses said. Several media workers were detained.
Three domestic media outlets said a woman was shot and killed in the central town of Monwya.
Earlier, a protester in the town said police had fired water cannon as they surrounded a crowd.
In Yangon, despite the police presence, people came out to chant and sing, then scatter into side streets as police advanced, firing tear gas, setting off stun grenades and firing guns into the air, witnesses said.
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Similar scenes played out in the second city of Mandalay and several other towns, including Dawei in the south, witnesses and media said.
Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing has said authorities were using minimal force. Nevertheless, at least three protesters have died in the weeks of turmoil. The army says a policeman was also killed.
At the UN General Assembly, Myanmar's Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun said he was speaking on behalf of Ms Suu Kyi's government and appealed for "any means necessary to take action against the Myanmar military and to provide safety and security for the people".
"We need further strongest possible action from the international community to immediately end the military coup ...and to restore the democracy," he said.
The army has promised an election but not given a date. It has imposed a one-year state of emergency.
The question of an election is at the centre of a diplomatic effort by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member.
Indonesia has taken the lead but coup opponents fear the effort could legitimise the junta and what they see as its bid to annul the November election.
