Mass nighttime arrests of Burma's pro-democracy demonstrators and the disappearance of dozens of monks continued yesterday as hope for a quick end to the brutal repression of the protests dimmed just hours after a United Nations envoy's visit.

A local UN staff member and three of her household were also seized before dawn yesterday as the security forces went door to door in areas of cities that were focal points for the two-week protests.

"We've seen enough," said Aung Din, head of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, and a former student protest leader. "Hundreds have been killed, injured and arrested. We're asking the UN to take immediate action. This is no time to wait for an envoy's report."

UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is to report on his four-day trip to Burma to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the General Assembly and the Security Council today and tomorrow. He had meetings with the junta's top generals and detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Something is better than nothing," said Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma, "but we are seeing increasing brutality. Thousands of monks are missing, and for sure hundreds have been killed. We cannot just sit, watch, and monitor the violence."

In Burma, U.S. diplomat Shari Villarosa told The New York Times that military trucks were patrolling Rangoon and blasting out messages to terrify residents. "I think they are just arresting anybody that they have the least suspicion about," she said. "This is a military that rules by fear and intimidation."

Witnesses told the Mizzima News, run by Burmese expatriates, that the authorities distributed pictures of protesters taken during the demonstrations, then "raided houses of people who had taken part and arrested them."

However, about 80 monks and 149 women believed to be nuns were released after their arrest last week.

Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Supreme Court of Canada judge, called the junta's response to the protests "shocking" and warned that the military rulers "must give a full account for its actions ... including precise and verifiable information on the number of people killed and injured as well as the whereabouts and conditions of those who were arrested."

In Ottawa, former MP David Kilgour urged Parliament to vote for honorary Canadian citizenship for Suu Kyi: to "give her a measure of additional protection. Perhaps the government could do it immediately by order-in-council without seeking a vote in the House because of the urgency of the situation."

And he added: "Many governments and parliaments around the world should be doing the same thing immediately to try to protect her and possibly others in the saffron revolution."

Worldwide anger has grown, with Japan's foreign minister saying his country might cut off aid to Burma, also known as Myanmar, to protest the crackdown, and the murder of a Japanese journalist.

European Union diplomats agreed to toughen sanctions and look at other measures that could hurt the isolated Burmese regime.

In Madrid, Spain's foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, demanded the release of Suu Kyi and warned that the international community could not allow "the blood of innocents to be spilt."

In Washington, the Senate's powerful committee on foreign relations met to review what the U.S. could do to aid Burma's protesters with top lawmakers expressing anger and frustration at the lack of progress in ending the bloodshed.

U.S. State Department official Scot Marciel said the government had made a "commitment at the highest levels" to put pressure on the regime, and was meeting with officials from Burma's most influential ally, China, as well as Japan and Southeast Asian countries that give the junta financial support.