YANGON, Dec 30: Nine supporters of detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested on Tuesday as they held a protest in Yangon calling for her release, witnesses said.

The protesters, some wearing the uniform of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, were seized after holding banners saying “Free Suu Kyi” outside the people’s parliament, the witnesses said.

“They tried to march near the people’s parliament. They were arrested by the authorities,” one witness said on condition of anonymity, adding that the arrests happened at about 3pm.

A spokesman for the NLD said he was aware of the protest but had no information about the arrests. “I heard that about seven party members marched from our headquarters this afternoon holding the posters on which were written ‘Free Suu Kyi’,” spokesman Nyan Win said.

“They are just revealing their desire and it is their right. I believe it’s not a crime.”

Myanmar’s military rulers have kept 63-year-old Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Yangon for most of the past 19 years. She has an appeal pending against her detention.

Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta, which has ruled the country since 1962, never allowed it to take office.

About 270 activists including monks, student leaders and National League for Democracy members have been handed long jail terms in recent weeks for their role in anti-junta protests last year and for helping victims of Cyclone Nargis in May.

More than 100 former government leaders from around the world wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon early this month asking him to travel to Myanmar to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.—AFP