POLICE blocked a road leading to Myanmar’s main city Yangon yesterday, telling hundreds of student protesters that the authorities would “take action” unless they dispersed.

Deadlock in front of a monastery in Letpadan, 90 miles from Yangon, entered its third day, with no sign that either side was ready to back down.

The defiant students are determined to march to the capital to push demands for education reform.

Demonstrators want the government to scrap a new education law that they say curbs academic freedom.

The law, passed by parliament in September, puts all decisions about policy and curriculum in the hands of a group largely comprised of government ministers.

Students say that the law undermines the autonomy of universities, which are still struggling to recover after clampdowns on academic independence and freedom during years of dictatorship.