Myanmar army suspends laws limiting forces, hunts protest backers

Myanmar's junta on Saturday suspended laws constraining security forces from detaining suspects or searching private property without court approval and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests against this month's coup.

A series of announcements came on the eighth day of country-wide demonstrations against the Feb. 1 takeover and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which halted an unsteady transition to democracy that began in 2011.

The announcements bore echoes of the near half-century of military rule before reforms began, when the Southeast Asian country was one of the world's most repressive and isolated states.

An order signed by military ruler General Min Aung Hlaing suspended three sections of laws "protecting the privacy and security of the citizens", which had been introduced during the gradual liberalisation.

Those sections include the requirement for a court order to detain prisoners beyond 24 hours and constraints on security forces' ability to enter private property to search it or make arrests. The suspensions also free up spying on communications.