May 27, 2008 (DVB), Eighteen members of the National League for Democracy have been detained in Rangoon on their way to the house of detained NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The NLD members were marching along Kabaraye Pagoda Road to Aung San Suu Kyi's house on University Avenue to call for her release from house arrest when they were detained, witnesses said.

They had begun their protest at 1pm in front of the NLD headquarters, where a group of around 50 people assembled, shouting slogans calling for Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest and the lifting of restrictions on international aid to cyclone victims.

At 2pm a smaller group of 24 NLD members wearing party uniforms headed towards University Avenue but were stopped by government authorities who pulled up in a truck as they made their way past Hnin Si Gone rest home.

The authorities, who included members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association and Swan Arr Shin, told them to return to the NLD headquarters.

When the NLD members refused to go back, 18 of them were forcibly put in the back of a truck.

Those detained included four NLD members from Hlaing Tharyar township, two each from San Chaung, Mingalardon and Dala, and one from Kyi Myint Taing.

Kyaw Myi Naing from Tamwe and tutor U Aung Phe from Ton Tay were also among those detained, along with Htet Htet Oo Wei from Shwe Pyi Tahr and her 12-year-old son Ye Yint Min Htet Oo.

It was not clear where the NLD members were taken.

The Burmese military regime is due to rule today on whether to release the opposition leader or extend her house arrest for another year.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw