Myanmar military junta on Monday declared a martial law with curfew orders from 8pm to 4am in major cities.

A gathering of more than five people has also been banned, according to regional administrative orders.

The curfew is imposed in Yangon, Mandalay, Shwebo, Monywa, Phazaung, Loikaw and Myaungmya.

Earlier on Monday, police had fired a water cannon at protesters in the Myanmar capital as tens of thousands of people joined a third day of nationwide demonstrations against the military’s removal of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi a week ago.

Calls to join protests and to back a campaign of civil disobedience have grown louder and more organised since last Monday’s coup, which drew widespread international condemnation.

Police in the capital Naypyidaw fired brief bursts of a water cannon against a group of the protesters who had gathered on Monday, video from the scene showed.

Thousands marched also in the southeastern coastal city of Dawei and in the Kachin state capital in the far north, the massive crowds reflecting a rejection of military rule by diverse ethnic groups, even those who have been critical of Suu Kyi and accused her government of neglecting minorities.

In Yangon, a group of saffron-robed monks marched in the vanguard of protests with workers and students. They flew multicoloured Buddhist flags alongside red banners in the colour of Suu Kyi’s National league for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide election in November.