Italy on Tuesday appealed to Myanmar's military junta not to crack down on mass street demonstrations against the Asian country's regime.
About 100,000 people including some 30,000 Buddhist monks filed through the Myanmar capital Yangon for the second day running Tuesday despite threats of government action to put down the protests.
Foreign Undersecretary Gianni Vernetti met Myanmar's Charge' d'Affaires Hlaing Myint at the foreign ministry here to ask him to convey to the junta the need to open "immediate" talks with all protest groups and free Nobel prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since 2003.
The undersecretary, who will meet on Wednesday in New York with United Nations Special Advisor on Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari and the leader of the Burmese government in exile, Sein Win, protested to Myint about "numerous acts of repression" that have already occurred against government opponents and trade unionists.
Vernetti told the charge' d'affaires that Italy will promote in all multilateral frameworks including the UN any initiative aimed at supporting "the Burmese people's desire for freedom" and encouraging dialogue between the Yangon regime and the opposition.
Police trucks full of troops have been seen on backstreets outside Yangon's main square, where the opposition marchers have congregated for the last two days.
US President George W.Bush is set to announce fresh sanctions and urge political change in a speech at the UN later Tuesday.
