Image shows 'We Want Democracy' mural in Myanmar

Security forces in Myanmar have pointed guns toward anti-coup protesters and attacked them with sticks, seeking to quell large-scale demonstrations calling for the military junta that seized power this month to reinstate the elected government.

More than 1,000 protesters rallied in front of the Myanmar Economic Bank in Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, when at least 10 trucks full of soldiers and police arrived and immediately started firing slingshots toward the protesters, according to a photographer who witnessed the events.

A satellite image from Maxar Technologies, shows protesters painted "WE WANT DEMOCRACY" in front of the bank.

Earlier on Monday, Myanmar's military leaders extended their detention of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose remand was set to expire and whose freedom is a key demand of the crowds of people protesting the Feb. 1 coup.

Suu Kyi will now be remanded until Feb. 17, when she will likely appear in court by videoconference, according to Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer asked by Suu Kyi's party to represent her.

The Nobel laureate remains under house arrest on a minor charge of possessing unregistered imported walkie-talkies.

Suu Kyi's extended detention is likely to further inflame tensions between the military and the protesters who have taken to the streets of cities across the Southeast Asian nation seeking the return of the government they elected.

Protesters gathered across Myanmar on Monday, following a night in which authorities cut the country's internet access and increased the security presence in major cities in a bid to curtail demonstrations.