Myanmar junta holds nine after Yangon protest

YANGON, Feb 27 (Reuters) Myanmar's military government has detained another three people who joined a rare protest against worsening living conditions in Yangon, the nation's commercial capital, relatives said today.

With these latest arrests yesterday, nine people have been detained since the peaceful protest last Friday, which state media condemned as an attempt to incite a riot.

''More arrests are expected,'' one relative told Reuters.

About two dozen people had waved placards and shouted slogans for 30 minutes outside Yangon's busiest bus station, demanding better health care, education and reliable power supplies in a city plagued by daily blackouts.

Public protests are rare in the impoverished Southeast Asian country, ruled by the military in various guises since 1962.

Despite great natural wealth in oil, gas and minerals, four decades of mismanagement have left the economy in a mess and the country's 52 million people among the world's poorest.

The main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and other groups have called for their release.

''These were just peaceful expressions of public opinion about the social and economic problems being faced by the people every day. No action should be taken against them,'' Ko Ko Gyi, a former leader of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, told Reuters.

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