YANGON - Myanmar's junta have gradually been easing its iron grip on the country's main city on Thursday, however, they have continued to round up scores of people and grill hundreds more arrested during and after a merciless crackdown on pro-democracy marches.
Most monks and civilians have been too terrified to talk as they have been released from a makeshift interrogation centre in north Yangon, which has offered a glimpse of the mechanics of the generals' dreaded internal security apparatus.
A relative of 3 released women said detainees were being divided into four categories: passers-by, those who watched, those who clapped and those who joined in.
"They're looking for the people who led the demonstrations. The people clapping will only get a minimal punishment -- maybe two to five years," said Win Min, who fled to Thailand during a crackdown on a student-led uprising in 1988.
Leaders could be looking at up to 20 years behind bars, he said.
The reports of verbal and physical abuse suggest junta chief Than Shwe is paying scant regard to the calls for restraint delivered by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, now flying back to New York to brief his boss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Ban is due to attend a meeting of the 15-member Security Council on Friday to discuss the crackdown in a country now under military rule for an unbroken 45 years. He said, "That is one of the top concerns of the international community."
People in central Yangon's Kamayut district said soldiers had arrested scores of people on Wednesday night for trying to impede a raid on the Aung Nyay Tharzi monastery a few days earlier and giving protection to fleeing Buddhist monks.
Another 70 young monks rounded up in other swoops across the city a week ago were freed overnight from a government technical institute, complementing 80 monks and 149 women believed to be nuns released on Wednesday.
