After two weeks of anti-government protests on the streets of Yangon, military forces tighten security across Myanmar’s largest city on Monday during the visit of United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

Hundreds of troops were seen last week in Yangon, along with numerous roadblocks, but the authorities decided to remove the barricades and pull out some of the security forces. Even so, security personnel inspected people entering areas where protesters gathered over the past weeks and initiated their demonstrations.

The government announced that those possessing a slingshot will be arrested and imprisoned. Government mouthpieces published Monday pictures of youths who had been detained for owning such a “catapult.”

A curfew remains in place between 9 pm and 5 am, more than 20 people being arrested Sunday night in their homes, reports from the region said. Army vehicles were seen throughout the city, the troops being prepared to intervene if any signs of demonstrations emerges.

The military junta ordered Buddhist monasteries on Yangon’s outskirts to send visiting monks back to the provinces and close their gates to laymen that were usually spending the night at the temples.

Roadblocks that were set up last week in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda were lifted early Monday, people saying the government tries to brush off the signs of last week’s violent crack down on monk-led demonstrations ahead of Gambari’s visit.

Gambari has been sent to the Southeast Asian country to asses the situation after weeks of social unrest that left behind at least ten dead and dozens injured in the former capital Yangon.

The envoy was allowed to meet with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi for an hour on Sunday. Before his discussion with Suu Kyi, Gambari met with high-ranked officials of the regime in Naypyidaw, the junta’s hideaway capital, located about 350 kilometres north of Yangon.

On Monday he was scheduled to hold a private round of discussions with the regime’s leader Than Shwe.

Most people in Myanmar said Gambari’s mission will not change the situation, Bertil Lintner, a Myanmar expert  saying “The UN has been sending special envoys to Burma for the past 18 years and they have no real mandate, so nothing is likely to happen.”

“They just issue reports and that's it. Only the UN Security Council can issue binding resolutions,” he added.

The Nigerian diplomat has the task of finding what happened in the impoverished country over the past two months, when isolated demonstrations turned into bloody clashes on Wednesday and Thursday.

Many feared that the crack down end with another bloodbath, like similar incidents ended in 1988. But the uprising was quelled by government troops, hundreds of monks being arrested along with their supporters.