Burma activists arrested at march

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Nine activists have been arrested in Burma's main city, Rangoon, during a march calling for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The campaigners walked silently through the city holding a banner, before being rounded into trucks by police, witnesses said.

All nine were members of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), according to the Associated Press.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years in detention.

Her house arrest was extended for another year in May.

She led the NLD to a landslide victory in elections in 1990 but the party was never allowed to take office.

Burma's ruling military has recently drafted a constitution paving the way for what it says will be democratic elections in 2010, but critics have derided the process as a sham.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win told the Associated Press that female party member Htet Htet Oo Wei was among those who marched at the rally on Tuesday, but it is unclear whether she was one of those arrested.

Htet Htet Oo Wei was detained for about a month in May for taking part in a previous rally.