YANGON, Aug 30: A group of pro-democracy protesters detained in military-ruled Myanmar launched a hunger strike on Thursday, demanding that authorities provide medical treatment for a wounded colleague, activists said.

Ye Thein Naing, 37, suffered a broken leg when police and pro-government militia violently broke up a demonstration in Yangon on Tuesday and arrested up to 20 people, activists said.

He and an unknown number of other protesters are being held at an improvised detention centre at the city's Kyaikkasan sports grounds, they said.

“Some of the people arrested with him started a hunger strike this evening because their colleague Ye Thein Naing hasn't received any medical treatment for his broken leg,” one activist said.

At least 100 people have been arrested since a rare string of anti-government rallies began on Aug 19 in protest at a massive hike in fuel prices, according to activists.

Myanmar's military regime, which for 45 years has ruled this impoverished nation with an iron fist, deals harshly with even the slightest show of dissent.

At Tuesday's protest, about 50 activists had gathered near the former campus of Yangon University to start a rally when plainclothes police and pro-junta militia broke up the group after only 10 minutes.

“Ye Thein Naing was beaten and thrown onto a waiting truck by militia,” said one activist who was at the protest.

“His leg was broken at that time, when he was beaten up. Even then, they still kept kicking him on the truck,” the activist added.

Like many of the protesters, Ye Thein Naing is a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by detained Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Su Su Nway, an NLD member and top labour activist who led the march on Tuesday, said that she and other leaders of the protest movement have gone into hiding to avoid arrest.

“I heard the authorities have been watching my house all the time, waiting to arrest me,” Su Su Nway said.

“We have only pens and books. I do not understand why they treat us like rebels,” she said.

“We are just making a statement on behalf of the people, including government staffers. We are sacrificing our young lives. I want the authorities to understand that.” Protesters have continued to defy the threat of arrest and beatings to stage new rallies.

More than 20 people, mostly NLD members, staged a 30-minute rally Thursday in the small town of Kyaukpadaung, located in a rural part of central Myanmar, activists said.

That rally ended peacefully with no arrests, they added.

Authorities have already arrested many of the most prominent leaders of the protests, including Min Ko Naing, who is considered Myanmar's most prominent pro-democracy advocate after Aung San Suu Kyi.

He was arrested along with 12 others for leading about 500 protesters in a peaceful march in Yangon on August 19 — the biggest anti-government rally here in at least nine years.—AFP