Hundreds of riot police have moved to sites in Rangoon where Burmese protesters staged a pro-democracy demonstration a month ago today.
The show of force after several weeks of relative quiet in Burma's largest city appeared aimed at preventing any protests on the one-month anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising.
There were no immediate signs that any public protests would take place but thousands of pilgrims thronged to the Shwedagon and other pagodas.
A Burma reporter who tried to take the photo of the pilgrims climbing up the eastern gate of the Shwedagon was surrounded by riot police and a police officer confiscated the flash card from the camera.
The reappearance of heavy security in Rangoon came a day after detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a newly appointed Burma government official.
The meeting was part of a UN-brokered attempt to nudge her and the military junta toward reconciliation.
