Internet access restored in Myanmar as thousands of people protests

Tens of thousands of people united against the military takeover in Myanmar's biggest city for the next day running on Sunday.

As the enthusiastic crowd walked through the streets of Yangon to protest over last week's coup, their spirits were lifted by the return of internet settings that had been blocked a day earlier. They demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi; whose elected government was toppled by the army that also imposed an internet blackout. Since Monday's coup, protest crowds have grown bigger and bolder while remaining nonviolent in support of a call by Suu Kyi's party and its allies for civil disobedience.

In Yangon, people tried to gather in front of the city hall, but barricades blocked off access to the area. Several groups marched in the city, where riot police were deployed in large numbers. No clashes were reported.

Union activists, students, and others adding at least 2,000 according to AP, chanted "Long live Mother Suu" and "Down with military dictatorship" at a major junction near Yangon University. They walked along the main road, snarling traffic. Drivers honked their horns in care.

There too, police in riot gear formed the main entrance to the university. Two water cannon trucks were stationed nearby.

The protesters held posters calling for freedom for Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who was put under house arrest and charged with minor offenses, seen by many as providing a legal veneer for their arrest.

Despite fear of repression in a country used to bloody crackdowns by the military such as those in 1988 and 2007, people took to the streets early in the morning, some banging saucepans in a show of defiance.