The sudden show of force after several weeks of relative quiet in the country's largest city appeared aimed at forestalling any protests to mark the one-month anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising by Buddhist monks, activists and ordinary citizens.
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Barbed wire was erected around the area while police also took up positions near the Sule Pagoda in the heart of the city and other sites of earlier protests.
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There were no immediate signs that any public protests would take place but thousands of pilgrims thronged to the Shwedagon and other pagodas.

A Burmese reporter who tried to take a photo of the pilgrims climbing up the eastern gate of the Shwedagon was immediately surrounded by nearly a dozen riot police and a police officer confiscated the flash card from the camera.
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Under the strategy, similar to one used against US companies during the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa, the legislation introduced Thursday would end tax write-offs enjoyed by Chevron on revenues earned from its natural gas project in Myanmar.

Chevron will also be barred from making any payments to the junta from its joint venture with French oil giant Total, Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, and MyanmarÂ’s Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise operating the lucrative Yadana gas fields, congressional aides said.

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Chevron is one of biggest Western companies in Myanmar, holding a 28 percent minority share in the Yadana natural gas project following its acquisition of another US energy giant, Unocal, in 2005.

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As of Tuesday, the police team began raiding, interrogating and collecting guest lists from monasteries on the Sino-Burma border district of Bamaw, local residents said.

"The situation is not improving. The monasteries here are being raided for the third time now. This time they [authorities] are conducting a more comprehensive search and sustained interrogation," an abbot on the Chinese border town of Loi Kye told Mizzima.

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"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

A shop owner in Rangoon said on Tuesday that business is suffering, following the demonstrations and the government's increase in fuel prices on August 15, which raised the cost of public transportation and increased food prices.

“This situation really hit our pocket,” said the shop owner. “We keep going with our business because we do not want to close. Rice shop owners keep running their shops not because the economy is good but because people need rice. All pockets are empty.”

Most businesses made only a small profit before fuel prices were increased, said the shop owner, but since then, profits have gone to pay for increased fuel prices.

“There is inflation in Burma and the currency is losing more of its value,” he said.

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