CNNi: Coup d’état in Myanmar after the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders

Myanmar’s powerful military has taken control of the country in a coup and declared a state of emergency following the arrests in Monday morning’s attacks after the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and other top government leaders. The country woke up to the streets of Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, with wide blackouts in the Internet and communications, closed banks and soldiers dressed in military fatigue. Residents who turn on the TV can only access the Myawaddy TV channel, apparently all other news channels are blocked. When it was announced that democratically elected leaders in the country had been arrested in the capital, a news outlet announced on the military-owned chain that power had been handed over to army chief Min Aung Hlaing. At the address, the army confirmed that it had arrested the country’s de facto civilian leader Suu Kyi, along with other top leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), in the face of voting irregularities in the November elections. Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD, won a landslide victory in the election with 83% of the vote, giving it another five years in government. The Union-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won just 33 of the 476 possible seats. The coup came just hours before the opening of the first session of the new parliament, and in recent weeks political tensions in the country began to worsen amid rumors that the military could assume the controversial elections. #CNNInternational #IvanWatson #ConnectTheWorld.

source