Myanmar junta sets curfew

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the country's two main cities on Wednesday after pouring security forces into Yangon to try to end the biggest protests against military rule in 20 years.

Troops and police on Tuesday had surrounded the Sule Pagoda in Yangon, the focus of two days of mass demonstrations led by thousands of maroon-robed Buddhist monks.

The area around the pagoda was the scene of the worst bloodshed during a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1988 in which 3,000 people are thought to have been killed.

The escalating tension in the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma gripped the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, where the international community -- mindful of the 1988 violence -- urged restraint by the junta.

U.S. President George W. Bush, in a speech to the assembly, called on all countries to "help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom" and announced fresh sanctions by Washington against the generals, their supporters and families.

The 27-nation European Union said it would "reinforce and strengthen" sanctions against Myanmar's rulers if the demonstrations were put down by force.

The generals have been living with sanctions for years.

In another sign of a potential clash, a well-placed source said detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been moved to the notorious Insein prison on Sunday, a day after she appeared in front of her house to greet marching monks.