MYANMAR police cracked down on student protesters opposing a new education law again today, grabbing demonstrators in the third such action in as many days.

In Letpadan, 90 miles north of the country’s main city Yangon, about 20 students broke away from a larger group of protesters gathering at a nearby monastery.

Police swooped in immediately, dragging five into lorries and taking them away.

The demonstrators are among hundreds who have been protesting in different cities for more than a month.

Students say that the new law undermines the autonomy of universities, which are still struggling to recover after restrictions on academic independence and freedom during military rule.

Eight demonstrators had been released earlier in the day after being detained the previous day when police baton-charged them.

The government had warned that it would take action if

the student protesters gathered at the monastery in

Letpadan tried marching on to Yangon.

A few hundred students remained surrounded by riot police in Letpadan today after refusing to give up their plans to march to the city.

Police had launched a similar crackdown on Wednesday against garment factory workers who were rallying for higher pay and better working conditions in an industrial zone just outside Yangon.

Prosecutors charged 14 workers following their arrest for blocking roads during the protest.

They face up to two years in prison if convicted under the Rioting Act.