Earlier in the day, reports suggested that the leader of Myanmar, as well as the country’s president and other senior officials from the incumbent administration, had been detained after days of a looming threat of a coup stemming from a disagreement by the Myanmar military with the results of the general election.
Sean Turnell, an Australian academic who serves as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, confirmed to the Financial Times the reports of the arrests and said that internet and mobile services in the capital were down.
“All the people in Naypyidaw have been cut off, so it looks like the reports about Aung San Suu Kyi and the president being detained appear to be true,” Sean Turnell told the Financial Times from Yangon. “There has been no statement from the military yet.”
Reuters reported that military forces were assembled around the city hall in Yangon.
According to NetBlocks, a non-governmental organisation that tracks internet shutdowns, there were serious disruptions in internet service in the early hours of Monday in Myanmar.
In January, Myanmar’s military raised the prospect of a coup d’etat after what they believed was widespread voter fraud during the November 8 election, which was the country’s second general election since the end of military rule in 2011.
Sputnik