( BBC ) Several hundred people have gathered in Burma's main city of Rangoon, despite three days of a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The demonstrators have been surrounded by security forces and pro-military vigilante groups, eyewitnesses said.
The protesters are chanting slogans and taunting police, but no shots have so far been fired.
The protest came as a United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, arrived in Rangoon.
He was due to fly immediately to the new Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, to hold key talks with the country's ruling generals.
Affront
Eyewitnesses said that after a quiet morning in Rangoon, protesters again gathered in the centre of the city.
Some eyewitnesses told the BBC that more than 1,000 people were demonstrating against the government.
This is considerably fewer than at the height of the protests, but the BBC's Chris Hogg in neighbouring Thailand says that even small protests in such a tightly controlled society are an affront to the government, especially today.
Less than 24 hours earlier state television had announced that peace and stability had returned to Burma.
There were isolated reports of new violence.
According to AFP news agency, security forces charged a group of around 100 protesters on the Pansoedan bridge in central Rangoon.
"They beat people so badly," one eyewitness told the agency. "I wonder how these people can bear it. I saw the security forces arrest about five people on the streets."
There have also been reports of at least three protests elsewhere - in Mandalay, Sittwe and Pakokku.
Witnesses in the central town of Pakokku said hundreds of monks led a march of thousands of demonstrators.
There was no visible security presence, as the monks had struck a deal with the local authorities allowing them to march as long as the protest was peaceful, AFP news agency said.