Myanmar’s military has seized power after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders.
Communications are limited, troops are patrolling the streets and a one-year state of emergency has been declared.
The UN said it was a “serious blow to democratic reforms”, with the US and UK among those also opposing the coup.
The army’s move follows a landslide election win for Ms Suu Kyi’s party in November. She has urged her supporters to “protest against the coup”.
In a letter written in preparation for her impending detention, she said the military’s actions would put the country back under a dictatorship.
The military has already announced replacements for a number of ministers.
On the streets of the main city, Yangon, people said they felt their hard-fought battle for democracy had been lost.
One 25-year-old resident, who asked not to be named, told the BBC: “Waking up to learn your world has been completely turned upside down overnight was not a new feeling, but a feeling that I thought that we had moved on from, and one that I never thought we’d be forced to feel again.”
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the armed forces until 2011, when democratic reforms led by Aung San Suu Kyi ended military rule.
She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010. She was internationally hailed as a beacon of democracy and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
But her international reputation suffered severely following an army crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Former supporters accused her of refusing to condemn the military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities.
How did the coup unfold?
In the early hours of Monday, the army’s TV station said power had been handed over to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested in a series of raids. It is not clear where they are being held.
No major violence has been reported. Soldiers blocked roads in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and the main city, Yangon. International and domestic TV channels, including the state broadcaster, went off air.
Internet and phone services have been disrupted. Banks said they had been forced to close.
Later, the military announced that 24 ministers and deputies had been removed, and 11 replacements had been named, including in finance, health, the interior and foreign affairs.
The military takeover follows weeks of tensions between the armed forces and the government following parliamentary elections lost by the army-backed opposition.
The opposition had demanded a re-run of the election, raising allegations of widespread fraud that were not backed by the electoral commission.
Read the rest here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882489
‘…..with the US and UK among those also opposing the coup.’
HUH? The commies just completed their coup here in the US