Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, said the planned deportation “puts lives at risk and gives undeserving legitimacy to the abusive military coup in Myanmar”.

“This is a time to extend protection to people fleeing Myanmar and grant the UN access, not put them into the hands of a military junta with a long track record of serious human rights violations,” she added.

Among those to be deported are members of the Christian Chin minority and people from conflict-riven Kachin and Shan states, according to Lilianne Fan, international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation which works with refugees.

03:10

Myanmar anti-coup protesters plan their largest mass rally yet after deadly clash with military

Myanmar anti-coup protesters plan their largest mass rally yet after deadly clash with military

The comments came as hundreds of thousands of anti-coup protesters on Monday again rallied across Myanmar after a clear threat from the junta that it was prepared to use lethal force to crush what it branded as “anarchy”.

International alarm continued to build, with the United Nations chief on Monday condemning the military’s “brutal force”, and the European Union announcing it was ready to impose sanctions on the junta.

“Today, I call on the Myanmar military to stop the repression immediately,” Antonio Guterres said in his annual address to the UN Human Rights Council. “Release the prisoners. End the violence. Respect human rights, and the will of the people expressed in recent elections.”

The ethnic Chinese caught in Myanmar’s political turmoil

Massive street demonstrations have taken place since Myanmar’s military staged a coup on February 1 and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.

A civil disobedience campaign has also since choked many government operations, as well as businesses and banks, and the junta late Sunday gave its most ominous signal yet that its patience was wearing thin.

“Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life,” said a statement on state-run broadcaster MRTV.

The statement, read out in Burmese with text of the English version on the screen, cautioned protesters against inciting “riot and anarchy”.

But protesters on Monday were undeterred by the warning, with hundreds of thousands rallying in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and commercial hub.

“We came out today to join in the protest, to fight until we win,” said Kyaw Kyaw, a 23-year-old university student. “We are worried about the crackdown, but we will move forward. We are so angry.”

Residents had woken up Monday to a heavier security presence, including police and military trucks on the roads and an embassy district barricaded.

Tens of thousands of professionals and public servants also rallied in Naypyidaw, the capital and a military stronghold.

There were large protests in other cities, including Myitkyina and Dawei.

Myanmar protesters pressure Singapore to ‘stand for justice’

Myanmar’s generals had already responded to the uprising by gradually ratcheting up the use of force, and the number of political prisoners.

Troops and police have used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannon and some live rounds.

On the weekend, two people were killed when security forces fired at protesters in the city of Mandalay, and a third man was shot dead in Yangon.

The woman, whose funeral was held on Sunday, was the first confirmed fatality of the protests, and she has emerged as a potent symbol of the anti-junta movement.

Authorities have detained 640 people since the coup, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.