Police in Myanmar escalated their tactics to deter demonstrators.

Myanmar authorities escalate tactics to deter demonstrations

YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar escalated their crackdown on demonstrators against this month’s military takeover, deploying early and in force on Saturday as protesters sought to assemble in the country’s two biggest cities and elsewhere.

Security forces in some areas appeared to become more aggressive in using force and making arrests, using more plainclothes officers than had previously revealed themselves. Photos posted on social media showed that residents of at least two cities, Yangon and Monywa, resisted by erecting makeshift street barricades to try to hinder the advance of the police.

Myanmar’s crisis took a turn on the international stage at a special session of the U.N General Assembly on Friday, when the country’s U.N. ambassador declared his loyalty to the ousted civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and called on the world to pressure the military to cede power.

There were arrests Saturday in Myanmar’s two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, where demonstrators have been hitting the streets daily to demand the restoration of the government of Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide election victory in November. Police increasingly have been enforcing an order by the junta banning gatherings of five or more people.

Many other cities and towns have hosted large protests against the Feb. 1 coup.

Police in Dawei, in the southeast, and Monywa, 85 miles northwest of Mandalay, used force against protesters. Both cities, with populations of less then 200,000 each, have been seeing large demonstrations.

Social media carried unconfirmed reports of a protester shot dead in Monywa. The reports could not be confirmed but appeared credible. The reports from Monywa also said dozens or more people were arrested.

The military takeover reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. Suu Kyi’s party would have been installed for a second five-year term in office, but the army blocked Parliament from convening and detained her and President Win Myint and other members of her government.

At the General Assembly in New York, Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, declared in a speech to delegates that he represented Suu Kyi’s “civilian government elected by the people” and supported the fight against military rule.