Myanmar forces fire tear gas as UN calls for action

Using a clothes line - and a local superstition - as protection, protesters in Yangon gathered behind their makeshift barricades on Saturday (March 6).

According to tradition, it's bad luck to pass under these longyis, or sarong-like skirts.

And the soldiers believe that, this protester says.

Sporadic demonstrations against a month-old military coup were staged across Myanmar.

In Yangon, the main city, local media reported security forces used tear gas and stun grenades, just hours after a United Nations special envoy called on the Security Council to take action against the ruling junta for the killings of protesters.

More than 50 protesters have been killed since the coup on Feb. 1, according to the U.N..

In a copy of remarks seen by Reuters, UN Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that it must put Myanmar security forces on notice and stand with the people of Myanmar.

On Friday night, authorities disturbed the grave of a 19-year-old woman who became an icon of the protest movement after she was shot dead wearing a T-shirt that read "Everything will be OK".

According to a witness, the body of Kyal Sin, widely known as Angel, was removed on Friday, examined and returned, before the tomb was re-sealed in the city of Mandalay.

A military spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment.

Meanwhile, authorities in Myanmar have asked India to return eight policemen who sought refuge across the border to avoid taking orders from the junta, an official in northeast India said on Saturday.

India's foreign ministry said in the statement given on Friday that the ministry was still quote "ascertaining the facts."