Red balloons festoon Myanmar streets for Suu Kyi

Red balloons are strung across some streets, red ribbons have been tied to houses, shop displays feature only red clothes and some people have simply hung red dresses outside their homes.

Loyalists of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi are showing their support for the ousted leader in the main city of Yangon with displays in the colour of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

"Everybody in the street is united to install the red balloons," said Myint Myint Aye, 49. "This campaign is to prove that we all stand with her."

Suu Kyi was overthrown on Monday by the army, which alleged fraud in a Nov. 8 election that the NLD had won in a landslide. The electoral commission dismissed the allegations.

Opponents of the coup have held nightly protests, banging on pots and pans and honking car horns.

A growing civil disobedience movement started with doctors and has now drawn in teachers, students and workers at some government ministries.

The government has not commented on the protests but in the name of maintaining stability it has blocked Facebook, where images of protests have been widely shared.

Suu Kyi has a huge following in Myanmar, where she spent some 15 years under house arrest during decades of struggling to bring democracy under previous juntas. The coup has cut short a decade-long troubled transition to democracy.

"I hung my red dress outside the shop since yesterday to show our support for Mother Suu," said Cho Cho, 39, a salad shop owner.

"This is our last fight for democracy: The fight for our children."