Burma’s ruling junta said today it hoped to achieve “smooth relations” with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after suggesting that she was unlikely to be released from house arrest anytime soon.

Burmese protestors in the country’s biggest city Rangoon are keeping up a low-key resistance against the country’s military regime.

Burma authorities claimed they seized weapons from Buddhist monasteries and announced dozens of new arrests, defying world outrage over their violent repression of protesters who sought an end to 45 years of dictatorship.

Burma’s military rulers have declared no-go zones around five key Buddhist monasteries in a bid to quash anti-government demonstrations.