Nigeria, March 4 -- Defiant anti-coup protesters returned to cities and towns across Myanmar on Thursday after dozens of people were killed on the deadliest day of the junta's crackdown, with global powers condemning the "brutal violence".

At least 38 people died on Wednesday, according to the United Nations, when online images streamed out of Myanmar showing security forces firing into crowds and blood-covered bodies of protesters with bullet wounds in their heads.

Myanmar's military staged its coup on February 1, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy and triggering a mass uprising that the junta has increasingly sought to quash with lethal force.

Wednesday's violence left the United States "appalled and revulsed," State Depa...