YANGON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar people and monks kept on staging demonstrations in the country's biggest city of Yangon Thursday afternoon, the second day after the imposition of a curfew and a ban on demonstrations in the city since Tuesday night.

    The government's security forces and riot police continued to fire warning shots to disperse the demonstrators staging protest on some main roads in central downtown areas.

    According to eyewitnesses, at least three demonstrators were shot dead with some others injured.

    Hospital sources said a Japanese citizen visiting Myanmar was also shot and later died in hospital. In connection with the case, an official of the Japanese embassy told Xinhua that they are urgently following the case for confirmation.

An injured man tries to take photographs after police and military officials fired upon and then charged at a crowd of thousands protesting in Yangon's city centre Sept. 27, 2007. Crowds of protesters in central Yangon scattered on Thursday after more then 200 soldiers and police marched through the streets with loudspeakers, ordering people to go home or risk being shot, a witness said. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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    In Wednesday's clashes between protesters and the government's security forces during a 10,000-strong demonstration involving Buddhist monks, students and people in central downtown area of Yangon, one protester was killed and 11 others injured, the authorities claimed.

    The injured include eight police force members and three civilians during the clashes at a traffic point of Sule Pagoda road in the heart of the city, official media said.

    There were also demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday in Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay under curfew as reported.

    Meanwhile, according to the state-run Radio Myanmar's afternoon broadcast, the Myanmar authorities have detained four political party leading members for interrogation into their involvement in the last series of demonstrations by Buddhist monks and people. They include members from the National League for Democracy.

    The curfew and the ban against gathering of more than five people under a criminal law's section-144, which covers almost all townships in 6-million-population Yangon and was issued by the Yangon Division General Administrative Department, have come into force since Tuesday night from 9 p.m. (local time) to 5 a.m. for a period of 60 days.

    Since Sept. 18, Buddhist monks and people have taken to the streets to stage demonstrations in Yangon and other parts of the country.

Buddhist monks march through the streets of Yangon September 24, 2007. Buddhist monks staged protest marches in at least two cities, including Yangon and Sittwe, in Myanmar on Tuesday, the day a reported religious boycott of members of the ruling military junta and their associates was due to start. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)