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In Pictures: Myanmar military seizes power

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 75, came to power after a 2015 election win that followed years of house arrest.

Soldiers stand guard on a street in Naypyidaw. [AFP]
Published On 1 Feb 2021

Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

The army said it carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party published comments it said she wrote in anticipation of a coup, urging people to protest the military takeover.

The coup derails years of Western-backed efforts to establish democracy in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where neighbouring China also has a powerful influence.

The generals made their move hours before Parliament was to sit for the first time since the NLD’s landslide win in a November 8 election viewed as a referendum on Aung San Suu Kyi’s fledgeling democratic rule.

Phone and internet connections in the capital Naypyidaw and the main commercial centre Yangon were disrupted and state TV went off the air after the NLD leaders were detained.

Some pro-military supporters celebrated the coup, parading through Yangon in pick-up trucks and waving national flags.

People cross a road near Sule Pagoda on Monday in Yangon, Myanmar, after a coup was launched. [Thein Zaw/AP Photo]
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Soldiers deployed on a road in the capital Naypyidaw. The army said senior members of the NLD, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were detained over a dispute arising from elections held in November 2020. [Maung Lonlan/EPA]
Buddhist and military flags are waved by army supporters, including Buddhist monks, in a vehicle in Yangon. [Thein Zaw/AP Photo]
People line up outside a bank branch in Yangon on Monday after the coup was announced. [Reuters]
Soldiers block the road heading to Parliament in the capital Naypyidaw. [Maung Lonlan/EPA]
A soldier stands guard on a blockaded road to Parliament in Naypyidaw after the military detained the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and its president in a coup. [AFP]
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Soldiers stand guard at a military checkpoint on the way to the Congress compound in Naypyidaw. [Reuters]
Police block the road heading to the Yangon International Airport. [Nyein Chan Naing/EPA]
Vehicles carrying police officers park at Sule Pagoda Road in Yangon. [Lynn Bo Bo/EPA]
Supporters of the Myanmar military gather near trucks adorned with the military flag, Buddhist religious flag, and national flag in Yangon. [Thein Zaw/AP Photo]
Activists hold a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the United Nations University building in Tokyo after Myanmar's military seized power in a bloodless coup. [Philip Fong/AFP]
Protesters from Myanmar residing in Japan rally against Myanmar's military. [Issei Kato/Reuters]