YANGON, May 15: Some 30 supporters of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested on Tuesday as they headed to pagodas around Yangon to pray for her release from house arrest, a party spokesman said.

They were arrested at different spots around Yangon as they prepared to join a weekly prayer vigil, said Han Zaw, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.

“One group leader, Su Su Nway, and about 20 people were arrested on their way to a pagoda in Insein Township for their prayer vigil,” Han Zaw told the news agency.

“Other 11 people were also arrested in different incidents. They were spotted because they were wearing T-shirts saying ‘Free Aung San Suu Kyi’,” he said. Police declined to comment on the arrests.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters began holding a weekly prayer vigil on May 1 to seek her freedom. The order confining her to her home comes up for renewal on May 27, although it has been routinely extended in the past.

The 61-year-old Nobel peace laureate has spent more than a decade confined to her home in three major periods of house arrest.

—AFP