The government announced last night it will release demonstrators detained at Letpadan on March 10 if they can prove they are "real" students, as more than 100 people appeared in court yesterday under heavy police guard. Students and other protesters among more than 120 arrested in a brutal police crackdown in Letpadan were taken yesterday from their prison cells to court, where they were told they would face five possible charges - under sections 143, 145, 147, 332 and 505(b) of the Penal Code - and were remanded in custody for two weeks pending trial. The charges include incitement, causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty and rioting. They carry a total maximum punishment of nine-and-a-half years in prison. Citing a Ministry of Home Affairs statement, the Ministry of Information reported last night that charges would be filed against those behind the students who incited the riots. The announcement came as a second batch of almost 80 detainees arrived at Letpadan Township Court at about 7:30pm. Earlier in the day, three blue prison vans crammed with about 50 detainees drove from Tharyarwady Prison back to Letpadan where the protesters - their hands cuffed with plastic and some showing injuries from the March 10 violence - filed into the courtroom for a one-hour hearing. "Our human rights have been violated," some of the students shouted from the vans as they left. Some had swollen eyes and foreheads covered with plaster patches, their faces tired from the stifling heat inside the police vans. According to the Ministry of Information, a total of 127 people were arrested on March 10 after police wielding batons ended an eight-day stand-off outside a Letpadan monastery, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) north of Yangon. Students and a small group of monks were demanding to be allowed to continue their march to Myanmar's largest city in protest against the National Education Law passed last year. Parents and supporters waited anxiously outside the court, along with about 50 police armed with rifles. Daw Khin Khin Yu, mother of Ko Min Thwe Thit, a detained leader of the All Burma Students Union, condemned the police crackdown and government action. "I was a supporter of U Thein Sein's government before but now I hate them," she said. Parents shouted out the names of their sons and daughters, asking how conditions had been in prison. Students responded by giving thumbs-up signs from behind the grills of their prison wagons. Daw Lae Lae Moe said she had encouraged her son, Ko Min Thu Sain, an English major from Nattalin township, to get involved in the protest. But now she looked desperately worried and frustrated. "I will always encourage my son to get involved in activities to change our country's democratic education. That will make our whole country a better place," she said. U Nay Win, father of Ma Phyo Phyo Aung, one of the arrested student leaders, said he and his wife had waited outside the prison since early in the morning to hear news about their daughter, but that the authorities had not allowed a meeting or given any information. "I am worried about my daughter and the other students. I heard my daughter has been beaten and injured. The government should not use violence against them," he said. Residents of Letpadan were among those arrested but some insisted they had nothing to do with the student protest. U Kyi Aye, 65, from That Nge Gone village, about 9km from Letpadan, said he had gone to the town with his son to get documents from the township immigration office. He said his 29-year-old son Ko Ye Min Aung had been arrested when he tried to stop a policeman from taking his motorbike. U Nay Win said he saw his son in one of the prison vehicles but had no chance to talk to him. "We are just farmers from a village," he said. "We are so afraid of police and are never against the government." UPDATE: 12/ 05/ 2015 High-school student released on bail from Tharawaddy trial A juvenile who was among the education activists arrested in the police crackdown on protestors in Letpadan on 10 March has been released on bail.Sixteen-year-old Aung Min Khine, chairperson of the Shwebo District Basic Education Students Union, was granted bail in a court hearing on Tuesday due to his status as a minor."Of the 13 bail applicants, only I have been granted bail so far," Aung Min Khine told DVB. "I was told I am to stand trial at a juvenile court as the charges have been upheld, including Article 505(b), and that I was granted bail because I am underage." Aung Min Khine said that he sustained injuries in the 10 March crackdown, some of which are yet to heal, including a head would.Robert San Aung, a lawyer representing the defendants in the trial, said that according to the Burma's Child Law, Aung Min Khine should be tried as a juvenile in a separate trial."As the accused is a juvenile, he should be dismissed from the adult trial, and stand in a separate trial at a juvenile court," said Robert San Aung. Families of the defendants, reporters and observers including German, French, EU and US representatives attended the hearing at Tharawaddy township court on Tuesday.One hundred and twenty-seven people were arrested on 10 March after nationwide, student-led demonstrations against the National Education Law came to a head when a sit-in turned violent. Activists say that the law stifles economic freedom, and marches on Rangoon from all over the country were organised in protest.After a series of negotiations between students and Naypyidaw representatives, an amendment bill was drawn up. Against the backdrop of the ongoing trial in Tharawaddy, activists reacted angrily to the passing of a heavily watered down bill by the parliamentary upper house at the end of March. UPDATE: 10/ 06/ 2015 A hearing for education law protestors at Tharawaddy district court in Pegu Division was postponed on Tuesday after one of the defendants coughed up blood and collapsed as he was being brought to the courtroom.Robert San Aung, a lawyer representing some of the activists, who were mostly arrested following a sit-in in Letpadan on 10 March which was brutally suppressed by riot police, told DVB that Khine Hlaing, 25, from North Okkalapa in Rangoon, collapsed in the prison van while being escorted by guards towards the Tharawaddy court house. "After he collapsed, Ko Khine Hlaing was first taken to Tharawaddy hospital. We went there to check on him and saw he had been coughing up blood. The left side of his chest was visibly swollen, and he had pain in his ribs, a shortness of breath and unstable blood pressure," said Robert San Aung. "Following recommendation by the hospital director, he was transferred to Rangoon General Hospital for further treatment." He said the court hearing was reappointed to 16 June, not only because of Khin Hlaing's condition but due to other complications. "The court was scheduled to hear the testimony of police chief Phone Myat, but it could not go ahead as not all the defendants were present. Robert San Aung, who was shortlisted for a major international peace prize in January, said he still doubts the independence and impartiality of the court. "The whole situation implies that the authorities have already taken the decision to jail them[68 students and activists in detention]," he told DVB on Tuesday. At a previous hearing for students and activists in the same courthouse, a defendant named Tin Win collapsed and was rushed to Rangoon General Hospital where he later received neurological surgery for an injury allegedly sustained during the police crackdown in Letpadan on 10 March. The 68 detainees from the crackdown stand accused of charges ranging from disturbing the peace to rioting to sedition. UPDATE: 25/ 06/ 2015 Family visits banned for Letpadan activists Thirty-five activists facing charges for their involvement in the Letpadan education protest have been banned from receiving visits in Tharawaddy prison amid allegations of family members smuggling prohibited items to their loved ones in jail. According to local resident and activist supporter, Kyaw Naing Oo, the Tharawaddy prisoners were discovered carrying cigarettes and betel quid, a cigarette substitute comprised of ground areca nut, tobacco and lime wrapped in a betel leaf, as they were returning from a court hearing on 16 June. "After the court hearing last Tuesday, the students brought back cigarettes. For that, the officials accused them of bringing prohibited items into the prison and sought disciplinary action against them," said Kyaw Naing Oo on Wednesday. "The director-general's office instructed a ban on family visits effective as of today." Robert San Aung, the activists' lawyer, slammed the authorities for violating his clients' prisoner rights. "According to the prison manual, the prison authorities are to provide the prisoners with cigarettes," said the lawyer. "When I was detained back in 2008, there was a fire in the prison and the director-general's office decided to ban cigarettes, but we were allowed betel quid as a replacement, and the prison bought some for the inmates." "I was released in 2010 and as of then, the prisoners were still allowed betel quid but now the officials are saying it is a __�prohibited item'. I view this as an obstruction of personal freedom and a violation of human rights." Robert San Aung also said that prison inmates caught with prohibited items are usually punished with a two-week visit ban. On Wednesday, students' family members who went to the prison to visit their loved ones were denied permission to see them. One-hundred and twenty-seven students and activists were detained in a violent police crackdown of Letpadan education protest on 10 March.