Myanmar’s junta cracks down as protest rallies spread

MYANMAR’S military government quashed a new protest yesterday by pro-democracy supporters in downtown Yangon, as activists said the protests spread to other parts of the country.

Twenty demonstrators, mainly women, gathered near Yangon’s city hall to protest a massive hike in fuel prices, which has sparked the most sustained anti-junta protests in at least nine years.

“They were arrested before they could do anything,” said an activist who witnessed the incident.