Myanmar security forces killed at least 38 people during protests Sunday against the military coup, a rights group said, while martial law was declared in several townships in the country's largest city Yangon.
Sunday's death toll reported by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners equaled the number killed on March 3, which was then the bloodiest day since the Feb. 1 military coup.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told a press conference on Monday that "at least 138 peaceful protesters, including women and children, have been killed in the violence" since the military coup last month.
The U.N. chief is "appalled by the escalating violence in Myanmar at the hands of the country's military," the spokesman said in a statement, adding, "The killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and stand in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar's democratic path."
The group said earlier over 120 people have been killed as security forces seek to quell protests against military rule that continue daily across the country.
Over 20 people were killed in the Hlaingthaya township of Yangon as security forces fired on protesters, according to local media.
Martial law was declared in Hlaingthaya and the neighboring township of Shwepyithar on Sunday, the first such declarations since the coup, followed by orders in four more townships in the city on Monday.
It marked a departure for the military that had until now used the State Administration Council, the top decision-making body set up following the coup, to rule.
The declaration allows the military, more precisely the commander of the Yangon Region Command, to exercise all administrative and judicial authority in the townships, possibly indicating harsher crackdowns on protesters in the days to come.
In an industrial park in Hlaingthaya, Chinese-linked factories were attacked Sunday, including by arson, leaving many people injured, according to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar.
The factories may have been targeted because China has taken a position friendly toward Myanmar's military government in the U.N. Security Council over the toppling of the country's elected government.
The military said on state TV on Sunday night that a police officer died and three other people were injured in Bago, a region northeast of Yangon.
Despite the intensified crackdowns, protests reportedly continued unabated Monday in various parts of the country, including Yangon and the second-largest city Mandalay, while the Burmese version of Britain's BBC reported that four people had been shot dead by security forces in Myingyan, central Myanmar.
On Monday, the Japanese Embassy in Yangon said in a posting on its Facebook page, written in Burmese and Japanese, "Japan condemns violent actions including killings committed by the military and the police force on peaceful protesters and ordinary people since February, and again seriously urges the military and the police force to totally cease the violent acts."
British Ambassador to Myanmar Dan Chugg said in a statement that the British government is "appalled" by the security forces using deadly force against innocent people.
"We call for an immediate cessation of this violence and for the military regime to hand back power to those democratically elected by the people of Myanmar," he said.
Meanwhile, a videoconference court hearing for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is facing several charges, including illegally importing and using walkie-talkies and spreading information that fanned social unease, was postponed Monday due to nationwide internet outages, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters in the capital Naypyitaw, adding the next court date has been set for March 24.
In an effort to stop widespread criticism of the coup, the ruling military junta has imposed a daily internet blackout from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. since the military takeover. Monday morning, however, only Wi-Fi networks came back online while cellular data remained blocked, according to London-based internet monitoring service NetBlocks.
"Despite the restoration of observable internet connectivity in #Myanmar, analysis of cellular networks reveals that mobile networks remain disabled nationwide," the service said in an alert on Twitter.
Besides the restoration of civilian rule, the protesters are calling for the release of elected leaders, including Suu Kyi, who were ousted in the coup.
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