How would you feel if you won an election by 89%, but the other election party claims fraud and arrests you? In my opinion, I would feel angry. This is exactly what's happening in Myanmar right now. Adults and children are protesting peacefully all over Myanmar but the military seized power and is killing and detaining peaceful protesters. More than 800 people including children have been murdered, and more than 4,000 citizens have been detained while protesting peacefully. These actions from the military broke major human rights, such as the freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom from torture and the right to spread information. 

 On February 1, 2021, the military overthrew the power after the National League of Democracy(NLD) won the election in November, 2020. During the transitional period, the military made unlawful arrests of hundreds of parliamentarians, journalists, and human rights activists. Among those arrested were President U Win Myint, and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. The military claims that they got arrested due to having foreigners' resources and walkie-talkies, which led to fraud in the election. They made another accusation to the President of encouraging citizens to be in a crowd voting for the NLD party, which broke Covid-19 restrictions in Myanmar. Therefore, citizens started protesting peacefully throughout the streets of Myanmar. 

 In addition, people started protesting online, making songs, demanding peacefully to the military to release the President, State Counselor, and all the detainees. The prominent world leaders even demanded immediate release for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint. These requests didn't stop the military from taking power. Days and nights went by, and people are still protesting. 

 On February 9, the military installed a firewall across Myanmar, preventing its citizens from getting connected with people outside the country. The Internet and phone lines were disabled. While the citizens were disconnected from outsiders, the military started to kill peaceful protesters, raiding their homes and detaining them. Up to May 18, the military has killed over 800 peaceful protesters since the coup. These included a 14-year girl named Pan EI Phyu/who got killed for posting anti-military coup songs on Tik Tok. 

 How do we know this if the internet and phone lines are disabled? News agencies get this information from the temporary opening of communications on the internet. Embassies also have their own private internet server; therefore, they can report what is going on in Myanmar. 

 However, didn't the military serve the country for a long time? Although the action the military took was unlawful; they claimed that the election was rigged by the NLD as they were trying to prove with evidence. They suppress the citizens to keep them silent when the trial happens to see if the election was rigged or not. On the other hand, they shouldn't kill peaceful protesters or detain them. However, these protests and killings are still happening right now in Myanmar as we speak.

 As a Myanmar citizen who lives abroad, I think the actions taken by the military are very unfair and break multiple human rights. My family in Myanmar is worrying every day if the military would raid their homes or get arrested. They can't even sleep peacefully at night. They could hear gunshots, people screaming, and explosions.
The actions that the military took after the NLD won the election by 89% were unbalanced and out of proportion using excessive force. Due to this, the citizens started protesting peacefully which led to the military killing more than 800 peaceful protesters and detaining more than 4000 protesters, including children. What the military did is an action that violates many human rights such as the freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom from torture and the right to spread information. The international community, especially the United Nations(UN) is calling on the Myanmar military to end all violence against peaceful demonstrators and activists. We all hope that Myanmar will be at peace again in near future. 

Works Cited

Amnesty. 1 Mar. 2021, www.amnestyusa.org/countries/myanmar/. Accessed 9 May 2021.

Beech, Hannah, and Rick Gladstone. "Myanmar's Coup and Violence, Explained." New York Times, 2 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/article/myanmar-news-protests-coup.html.

"Media Covering Myanmar Coup Face Harassment, Restrictions." VoaNews, 11 Feb. 2021, www.voanews.com/press-freedom/media-covering-myanmar-coup-face-harassment-restrictions. Accessed 22 May 2021.

"Myanmar coup: The people shot dead since the protests began." BBC, 13 Apr. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56636345. Accessed 22 May 2021.

"2021 Myanmar coup d'état." Wikipedia, 1 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Myanmar_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat. Accessed 9 May 2021.