More than 100 arrested after crackdown in Myanmar

Hundreds of police beat student demonstrators at a protest camp in Letpadan, 145 kilometres north of Yangon. A group of around 50 people clashed with police outside the camp. Witnesses said police were destroying everything at the protest site, including two vehicles, one of which was an ambulance. Some 100 people were injured, including two journalists. Students have been marching from Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, and two other cities toward Yangon since January, demanding the education law be changed or scrapped.

They want independent student and teacher unions, changes to university exam and entrance requirements, the introduction of ethnic minority languages and modernisation of the national syllabus. 

Early Tuesday, authorities told the protesters they could march to Yangon under the precondition that they would not raise flags or shout slogans while marching. Student protesters rejected the offer and attempted to march through a police barrier. 

The European Union said in a statement that it was "deeply concerned" at the police action. 

"We call for a formal investigation to be initiated swiftly. Freedom of expression and the right to legal and peaceful assembly are fundamental values of the European Union," the statement read. 

The United States urged the government to respect the right of protesters to "assemble peacefully" and express their views. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US was speaking to Myanmar officials as well as international partners "to ascertain the specific cause of the clashes."