Sun Oct 7, 5:36 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Faced with mounting world outrage over violence in Myanmar, the UN Security Council was to meet Monday under pressure to quickly condemn the military regime for crushing pro-democracy protests.

The 15-member body was to weigh a draft statement that would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The non-binding text, drafted by the United States, Britain and France, was submitted Friday to the full council after members heard a report from UN emissary Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to defuse the crisis.

But despite worldwide protests in support of Myanmar's embattled pro-democracy movement, the draft was likely to be toned down at the request of China, Russia and possibly Indonesia, diplomats said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's state press on Sunday trumpeted the release of hundreds of monks and demonstrators ahead of the security council's meeting on the junta's crackdown.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that more than half of the 2,171 people arrested after the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades had been released, repeating figures given late Saturday on state TV.

But army trucks remained stationed at Yangon landmarks Sunday, including by the Sule and Shwedagon Pagodas -- rallying points for last month's demonstrations.

The United States has threatened to push for UN sanctions against Myanmar's ruling generals, including an arms embargo, if they refuse to halt their crackdown and to cooperate with Gambari's mediation for national reconciliation.

But any sanctions resolution was likely to face resistance and possibly a veto from China and Russia, who deem the turmoil in the southeast Asian country an internal matter that does not represent a threat to regional or international peace and security.

Last January, China and Russia used a rare double veto to block a US-sponsored draft resolution that would have called on Myanmar's rulers to free all political detainees and end sexual violence by the military.

A Western diplomat said that council experts would try Monday to work out an amended version of the text which would then be submitted to their ambassadors for approval.

Unlike a resolution, a so-called presidential statement requires the consent of all 15 members to be adopted.

The Western sponsors said they expected approval in the coming days.

On Friday, Gambari said that Council unity was "key to really getting Myanmar authorities to move along the lines that we all want, which is a peaceful, democratic Myanmar, with full respect for human rights."

He also said that all council members agreed that the status quo in Myanmar "is unacceptable and unsustainable" and backed his plan to pay a return visit to Myanmar before mid-November "in order to keep the momentum, which we must not allow to slip."

China, which has close ties with Myanmar and favors constructive engagement with its military regime, has however warned that putting pressure on the junta "would lead to confrontation."

China's UN envoy Wang Guangya Friday urged the council to adopt "a prudent and responsible approach."

"If the situation in Myanmar takes a worst turn because of external intervention, it will be the people of the country who will bear the brunt," he said.

Gambari also noted that council members agreed that Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers such as China, but also India and Japan have a key role to play in defusing the crisis.

But council members face intense pressure for tougher action from public opinion as well as from human rights groups.

Yvonne Terlingen, head of Amnesty International's UN office, called on the council to agree "a strong statement expressing its deep concern about continuing human rights violations and calling on the Myanmar authorities to take immediate concrete action to protect human rights."

Sun Oct 7, 6:34 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military leaders stepped up pressure on monks who spearheaded pro-democracy rallies, saying Sunday that weapons had been seized from Buddhist monasteries and threatening to punish all violators of the law.

The government also announced dozens of new arrests, defying global outrage over its recent violent crackdown on protestors who sought an end to 45 years of military dictatorship.

Security eased in the largest city of Yangon more than a week after soldiers and police opened fire on demonstrators. Some roadblocks were removed and visitors began trickling back to the heavily guarded Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the starting and finishing points of protests that began in mid-August over a sharp fuel price increase.

The junta says at least 10 people were killed in its Sept. 26-27 crackdown — though independent sources say the toll was likely much higher — and that some 1,000 remain in detention centers.

At least 135 monks are being held, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece of the junta. It said recent raids on monasteries had turned up guns, knives and ammunition, though it was not yet clear to whom they belonged.

"Monks must adhere to the laws of God and the government," the paper wrote. "If they violate those laws, action could be taken against them."

In addition, 78 more people suspected of involvement in the rallies were being questioned by investigators, it said.

Tens of thousands of people turned out for last month's protests, the biggest in nearly two decades against brutal military rule. The junta's bloody crackdown sparked international condemnation — even from its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Malaysia urged the military regime on Sunday to quickly hold unconditional talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, before the world pushes harder for political change.

The comments by Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar followed a warning from the United States that it would push for U.N. sanctions against Myanmar if it fails to move toward democracy.

China and Russia, however, have expressed opposition to any such action and Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told the U.N. General Assembly last week democracy "cannot be imposed from outside."

The junta's propaganda machine, meanwhile, continued to claim massive rallies across the country, allegedly in support of the government. The paper said demonstrators denounced the recent protests "instigated" by some monks and members of Suu Kyi's party.

Demonstrators waved placards and shouted: "We want peace, we don't want terrorists." It reported four rallies in central and northwestern Myanmar, attended by 7,500, 19,000, 20,000 and 30,000 people.

Such rallies are widely believed to be stage-managed by the government, with every family in the district forced to contribute one or two members.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. The current junta came to power after routing a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, killing at least 3,000 people. Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990, but the generals refused to accept the results.

Sun Oct 7, 5:49 AM ET

YANGON - Myanmar's state press on Sunday trumpeted the release of monks and demonstrators ahead of a UN Security Council meeting to discuss how to handle the junta following its crackdown on street protests.

Security Council members -- under pressure to condemn the military regime after 13 people were killed in its drive to end the escalating pro-democracy rallies -- were to meet on Monday to debate a draft statement on Myanmar.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Sunday that more than half of the 2,171 people arrested after the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades has been released, repeating figures given late Saturday on state TV.

The government paper specified that nearly 400 of 533 Buddhist monks detained had been "sent back to their respective monasteries."

Monks led the protests, which at their peak last month attracted 100,000 people to the streets of Yangon, and images of the red-robed clergy bloodied and bruised by security forces shocked many in this deeply Buddhist country.

Army trucks on Sunday remained stationed at Yangon landmarks including the Sule and Shwedagon Pagodas -- rallying points for last month's demonstrations -- but uniformed troops were keeping a low profile on the streets.

The New Light of Myanmar did not mention the UN Security Council, but analysts have said that the regime is trying to make a few token gestures to ward off a harsh Council statement, or possible sanctions.

Myanmar's media last week announced that junta leader Senior General Than Shwe was willing to meet with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but the offer came with heavy conditions attached.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Myanmar last week to express global outrage at the junta's actions, and was allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 18 years under house arrest at her lakeside villa.

The United States has led global calls for her release and warned Friday that it may push for UN sanctions, including an arms embargo, if the ruling generals pursue a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

After Gambari briefed the UN on Friday, the United States, Britain and France circulated a draft of a non-binding statement condemning Myanmar's government, which is due to be debated Monday.

"The Security Council condemns the violent repression by the government of Myanmar of peaceful demonstrations, including the use of force against religious figures and institutions," the text said.

Efforts to chastise the regime could however be scuppered by Myanmar's allies China and Russia, who may work to get the language in the draft toned down and could veto any attempts to impose sanctions on the junta.

Across the globe on Saturday, activists took to the streets in cities from London to Sydney for a day of protest against Myanmar's bloody crackdown. About 300 people also gathered at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on Sunday.

Sun Oct 7, 5:28 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Faced with mounting world outrage over violence in Myanmar, the UN Security Council was to meet Monday under pressure to quickly condemn the military regime for crushing pro-democracy protests.

The 15-member body was to weigh a draft statement that would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The non-binding text, drafted by the United States, Britain and France, was submitted Friday to the full council after members heard a report from UN emissary Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to defuse the crisis.

But despite worldwide protests Saturday in support of Myanmar's embattled pro-democracy movement, the draft was likely to be toned down at the request of China, Russia and possibly Indonesia before it can be adopted by consensus, diplomats said.

The United States has threatened to push for UN sanctions against Myanmar's ruling generals, including an arms embargo, if they refuse to halt their crackdown and to cooperate with Gambari's mediation for national reconciliation.

But any sanctions resolution was likely to face resistance and possibly a veto from China and Russia which both argue that the turmoil in the southeast Asian country is an internal matter that does not represent a threat to regional or international peace and security.

Last January, China and Russia used a rare double veto to block a US-sponsored draft resolution that would have called on Myanmar's rulers to free all political detainees and end sexual violence by the military.

A Western diplomat said that council experts would try Monday to work out an amended version of the text which would then be submitted to their ambassadors for approval.

Unlike a resolution, a so-called presidential statement requires the consent of all 15 members to be adopted.

The Western sponsors said they expected approval in the coming days.

Friday, Gambari said that Council unity was "key to really getting Myanmar authorities to move along the lines that we all want, which is a peaceful, democratic Myanmar, with full respect for human rights."

He also said that all council members agreed that the status quo in Myanmar "is unacceptable and unsustainable" and backed his plan to pay a return visit to Myanmar before mid-November "in order to keep the momentum, which we must not allow to slip."

China, which has close ties with Myanmar and favors constructive engagement with its military regime, has however warned that putting pressure on the junta "would lead to confrontation."

China's UN envoy Wang Guangya Friday urged the council to adopt "a prudent and responsible approach."

"If the situation in Myanmar takes a worst turn because of external intervention, it will be the people of the country who will bear the brunt," he said.

Gambari also noted that council members agreed that Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers such as China, but also India and Japan have a key role to play in defusing the crisis.

But council members face intense pressure for tougher action from their respective public opinion as well as from human rights groups.

Yvonne Terlingen, head of Amnesty International's UN office, called on the council to agree "a strong statement expressing its deep concern about continuing human rights violations and calling on the Myanmar authorities to take immediate concrete action to protect human rights."

And pressure for a tougher UN response, including sanctions, is likely to grow if Myanmar rulers do not end their repression and start a meaningful dialogue with their opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sun Oct 7, 3:34 AM ET

LONDON - Protesters across the world demonstrated against Myanmar's bloody crackdown on dissent Saturday, with thousands gathering in London and smaller actions in Sydney, Stockholm, Bangkok, Paris and elsewhere.

The coordinated displays of public condemnation followed the violent crackdown by Myanmar's junta on thousands of activists in late September. At least 13 people were killed and 2,000 detained in the clampdown.

In Britain, Myanmar's former colonial power, thousands crowded through streets behind saffron-robed Buddhist monks who threw petals into the River Thames.

Police said 3,000 people took part. Organisers put the figure at 10,000.

After stopping at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street offices to tie red headbands to the gates, the demonstrators went on to Trafalgar Square to hear MPs, human rights campaigners and Myanmar exiles exhort the United Nations to take action against Yangon's junta.

"Burma is not a human rights emergency of today, last week or last month. It is a human rights emergency that the world has chosen to forget for the last 20 years," said Amnesty International's secretary general Irene Khan.

Brown issued a message of support to the people of Myanmar, telling them: "The world has not forgotten -- and will not forget -- the people of Burma."

In Sydney, hundreds rallied outside the landmark Opera House. Another 1,000 marched through Melbourne, some carrying red banners that read "no more bloodshed."

Other protests took place in Perth, and in Brisbane, where organiser Natasha Lutes said: "This is about getting a message to the people in Burma.

"They've been struggling to get the message out about the atrocities that are happening in Burma, putting their lives on the line. We want them to know the world has been listening and ordinary people everywhere support them."

Dozens also gathered in front of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, shouting "Free Burma" and brandishing pictures of Myanmar's pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Campaigners in India were to hold a candle-lit vigil outside a war memorial in the heart of New Delhi.

In Singapore, a vigil outside the Myanmar embassy involving an opposition political party and members of the Myanmar community entered its seventh day on Saturday.

Amnesty International Korea said some 200 protestors, including immigrant workers from Myanmar, would stage a protest outside the country's embassy in central Seoul on Sunday to press for the release of prisoners of conscience.

In Paris, 200 people gathered at a Buddhist temple where they placed yellow roses at the feet of a giant Buddha statue.

A similarly sized demonstration occurred in Vienna, where participants wore saffron as a sign of solidarity. A union leader, Rudolf Hundstorfer, said "we can fear the worst" for those detained in Myanmar.

Brussels, the Belgian city home to the main institutions of the European Union, saw 400 demonstrators gather.

"We have to know where are the people who have been arrested, and they must be freed -- you are their last hope," one of the organisers told the crowd, which included Belgian MPs.

A union tract calling for a boycott of the French oil group Total for continuing to do business with Myanmar was widely applauded.

In the Netherlands, activists announced they had sabotaged a Total petrol station in Oosterbeek, in the centre of the country, and demanded the oil company's immediate withdrawal from Myanmar.

Some 150 people demonstrated in central Stockholm and held three minutes of silence "out of respect for all those who are suffering in Myanmar," said Fredrik Korn, a spokesman for the Swedish branch of Amnesty International.

In the United States, 100 people gathered in front of Myanmar's Washington embassy and then marched to China's. They bore signs criticising the holding of the Olympics next year in Beijing, in the light of China's reluctance to pressure the Myanmar junta over its repression.

About 100 demonstrators gathered in front of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, carrying "Solidarity with Burma" placards and pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi and demanding an end to violence.

The non-government group Canadian Friends of Burma has been holding almost daily vigils for the country for the past two weeks in Ottawa and scheduled a dozen protest rallies in other Canadian cities for the weekend.

Sun Oct 7, 2:36 AM ET

YANGON - The Myanmar junta reduced security in Yangon sharply on Sunday, apparently confident it would face no further mass protests against military rule, but the streets remained unusually quiet and arrests continued.

The last barricades were removed from the centre of the former capital around the Shwedagon and Sule pagodas which were the starting and finishing points of protests soldiers crushed by firing into crowds and arresting monks and other demonstrators.

The few people on the streets said they were still fearful and the Internet, through which dramatic images of the protests and sweeping security force actions to end them reached an outraged world, remained cut off.

People on the streets were too scared to talk despite the ruling generals saying for the first time they were willing to talk to detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, albeit on conditions she is unlikely to accept.

Senior General Than Shwe, the head of the lasted junta in 45 years of unbroken military rule in the former Burma, offered direct talks if Suu Kyi abandoned "confrontation" and her support for sanctions and "utter devastation."

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD, said the offer could open a path to talks about talks.

"It is a significant improvement on the past situation. They have never committed themselves to talking to her," he said.

Myanmar analysts caution against optimism as hopes of change in the past have been dashed so often, punctuated by the army killing 3,000 people in crushing an uprising in 1988, and state-run newspapers said more people had been arrested.

They said on Sunday 78 more people suspected of taking part in mass protests which filled five Yangon city blocks had been picked up for questioning.

They said 1,216 people who took part "unknowingly" had been released in the Yangon area after signing pledges not to participate in protests and 398 of the 533 monks taken in monastery raids around the city had been freed.

There was no word on the numbers of arrests and releases in other cities where thousands of people were reported to have protested against military rule, but Nyan Win said a senior NLD member was arrested in the second city of Mandalay overnight.

SMALL HOPES

Yet, there was a small hope international pressure on the junta to begin talks with the NLD, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 the generals ignored, might be having an impact on a regime that rarely takes notice of the outside world.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, told reporters on Friday after briefing the Security Council on his four-day visit to Myanmar he saw a "window of opportunity" for talks between the junta and Suu Kyi, who met Gambari twice.

"From my own conversation, she appears to be very anxious to have a proper dialogue" provided there were no preconditions, Gambari said.

There has been no word from Suu Kyi, 62, who has spent 12 of the past 18 years in detention and is confined to her house in Yangon without a telephone and requiring official permission, granted rarely, to receive visitors.

But, in what appeared to be another move aimed at deflecting international anger, state television broadcast rare footage of Suu Kyi for the first time in four years on Friday night.

It referred to her respectfully as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a departure from past practice when her father's name, Aung San, was dropped to deny her link to the nation's independence hero.

Britain, France and the United States -- which is pushing for tougher sanctions against the junta -- have circulated a draft statement at the U.N. Security Council that demanded the junta free political detainees and talk to the opposition.

It would have no legal force, but if a strongly worded statement were approved by China, the closest thing the junta has to an ally, it would send a forceful message to the generals.

The junta says 10 people were killed in the crackdown on protests which began with small marches against huge fuel price rises in August and escalated after troops fired over the heads of protesting monks.

Western governments say the toll is likely to be far higher.