Myanmar's junta shut down the internet in the country on Saturday as thousands of people took to the streets of Yangon to denounce this week's coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In the first such demonstration since the generals seized power on Monday, activists in the country's largest city chanted, "Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win" and held banners reading "Against military dictatorship." Bystanders offered them food and water.

Many in the crowd wore red, the color of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) which won Nov. 8 elections in a landslide, a result the generals have refused to recognize claiming fraud.