news agency
\nNaypyitaw
\nPolice in Myanmar launched their most sweeping crackdown in three weeks of protests against military rule on Saturday in towns and cities across the country, with media reports of a woman shot dead and dozens of people detained.
\nThe violence came after Myanmar\u2019s UN envoy urged the United Nations to use \u201cany means necessary\u201d to stop the February 1 coup.
\nMyanmar 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.
\nUncertainty has grown over Suu Kyi\u2019s whereabouts, as the independent Myanmar Now website on Friday 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.
\nThe coup has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets and drawn condemnation from Western countries, with some imposing limited sanctions.
\nPolice were out in force in cities and towns from early on Saturday in their most determined bid to stamp out the protests.
\nIn the main city of Yangon, police took up positions at usual protest sites and detained people as they congregated, witnesses said. Several journalists were detained.
\nConfrontations developed as more people came out to demonstrate despite the police operation.
\nThree domestic media outlets said a woman was shot and killed in the central town of Monwya. The circumstances of the shooting were not clear and police were not immediately available for comment.
\nEarlier, a protester in the town said police had fired a water cannon as they surrounded a crowd.
\n\u201cThey used [a] water cannon against peaceful protesters \u2014 they shouldn\u2019t treat people like that,\u201d Aye Aye Tint told Reuters.
\nA big crowd of protesters later surged through town streets chanting defiance, an activist video feed showed. One protester told Reuters the crowd was demanding the release of people detained by the security forces.
\nJunta leader General Min Aung Hlaing has said authorities were using minimal force. Nevertheless, at least three protesters had died over the days of turmoil up to Saturday. The army says a policeman was killed in earlier violence.
\nIn Yangon, crowds came out to chant and sing, then scattered into side streets and slipped into buildings as police advanced, firing tear gas, setting off stun grenades and shooting guns into the air, witnesses said.
\nSome protesters threw up barricades across streets. Crowds eventually thinned but police in Yangon were still chasing groups and firing into the air in the late afternoon, witnesses said. Numerous people were seen detained and some beaten through the day.
\nSimilar scenes played out in the second city of Mandalay and other towns from north to south, witnesses and media said. Among those detained in Mandalay was Win Mya Mya, one of two Muslim members of parliament for the NLD, media said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
news agency Naypyitaw Police in Myanmar launched their most sweeping crackdown in three weeks of protests against military rule on Saturday in towns and cities across the country, with media reports of a woman shot dead and dozens of people detained. The violence came after Myanmar\u2019s UN envoy urged the United Nations to use \u201cany […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n