Burmese activists are calling for the immediate release of at least 16 student leaders detained Friday in four cities.

The students were detained ahead of Saturday's commemoration of a brutal 1962 suppression of a student movement when the military bombed the Rangoon University student union building, killing at least 15 students.

Among those arrested Friday was student leader Phyo Phyo Aung, a former political prisoner freed last year in an amnesty.

Students gathered at Rangoon University Saturday and said the arrests could dent the positive image of the 15-month-old government of Burma, also know as Myanmar.

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus – AIPMC – also called on the government to release the students detained in Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities. AIPMC is in Burma on a fact-finding visit to assess the current reform process.