Burma's military junta continued to frustrate international attempts at dialogue over the crackdown on the biggest pro-democracy protests the country has seen in 20 years that has led to the arrest of thousands of Buddhist monks.
And it was reported this evening that thousands of the monks are to be sent to specially created prisons in the north of the country.
The BBC reports sources saying that around 4,000 monks detained in the main city, Rangoon, will be sent to specially created prisons far from their monasteries.
Many were beaten and some are thought to have been killed as the military leadership rounded up monks and held them at a disused race course and a technical college, the BBC said.
More than a dozen monasteries were raided and the Asian Human Rights Commission had earlier claimed at least 700 monks had been arrested while others were under siege at their monasteries.
An Asian diplomat said all the arrested monks were defrocked and are likely to face long jail terms. The Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the two main flash points of the unrest in Rangoon were reopened today, but there were few visitors.
Elsewhere in the city, troops removed roadblocks and shifted to the outskirts, apparently easing their stranglehold on the city, but riot police were still checking cars and buses and monitoring the city by helicopter.
Public anger ignited last month after the government increased fuel prices, then last week shifted into mass protests led by Buddhist monks against 45 years of military dictatorship. Soldiers responded by opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.
The junta has extended already oppressive restrictions on the media, including cutting off internet access, hampering international efforts to establish reliable information from the Southeast Asian country.
The government says 10 people were killed but dissident groups say anywhere from several dozen people to as many as 200 died in the crackdown.
In Rangoon there was a strong feeling today that the protests had failed. "The people are angry but afraid - many are poor and struggling in life so they don't join the protests anymore. The monks are weak because they were subjected to attacks," said a 30-year-old taxi driver.
Other Burmese were more despairing. "The people are enraged, but they could not do anything because they're facing guns," said a 68-year-old teacher. "I think the protests are over because there is no hope pressing them."
There was confusion for a time today over the whereabouts of United Nations envoy Ibrabim Gambari who has yet to be granted a meeting with military leader General Than Shwe despite being in Burma since last Saturday.
It later emerged he had travelled to an academic conference in Lashio 240 miles north of Naypyitaw, the isolated jungle city where Gen Than Shwe moved the capital in 2005.
Mr Gambari was granted an appointment for tomorrow with the general in Naypyitaw, one Asian diplomat said.
In previous sparring with the UN and other international bodies, Burma's junta has repeatedly snubbed envoys and ignored diplomatic overtures.
Agencies