National League for Democracy

Myanmar's junta on Tuesday said the country had "not returned to normalcy" almost two years after its coup, casting doubt over plans for elections and ending a state of emergency.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the military toppled democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government, alleging massive fraud during elections her party won in 2020.

A nationwide strike marked the one-year anniversary Tuesday of the army's seizure of power in Myanmar, as protests and sporadic violence across the country renewed concern over the ongoing struggle for power.

Myanmar's election last year reflected the will of the people and the army was unjustified in using alleged flaws as a reason to seize power, an international monitoring group said on May 17 in its final report.

The Feb. 1 coup cut short a decade of tentative democratic reforms and led to the arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party had swept the Nov. 8 election.

Turkey on Feb. 28 condemned the Myanmar military junta's disproportionate use of force on peaceful protesters causing the loss of many civilian lives. 

"We observe with deep concern that the stability in Myanmar is deteriorating after the coup d'etat on 1 February 2021," the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

For the 10th day, protesters demanded the reinstatement of a civilian government under deposed state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic reform.

People in Myanmar went on the streets again to protest against the military coup despite a heavy military presence and internet blackout.

Myanmar's military tightened their post-coup grip on power, stepping up a campaign of intimidation against the ousted civilian leadership while pushing harsher tactics as a fifth consecutive day of nationwide demonstrations began on Feb. 10.

Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters in Myanmar poured back onto the streets on Feb. 7, as an internet blackout failed to stifle growing outrage at the military's ouster of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The fresh rally followed large protests on Feb. 6 across the country condemning the coup that brought a 10-year experiment with democracy to a crashing halt.

Myanmar's military has seized power after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders.

In the early hours of Monday, the army's TV station said power had been handed over to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The United States threatened to reimpose sanctions on Myanmar's generals after they seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose whereabouts remained unknown on Feb. 2 more than 24 hours after her arrest.   

Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested