Myanmar Spring Revolution

It began with the military coup of February 1, 2021, when the junta detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and seized power from the elected government. Mass protests and strikes erupted within days, growing into the ongoing resistance movement.

The People's Defence Forces are armed resistance groups fighting the military junta, formally organized under the National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel civilian government established in April 2021. PDFs operate alongside several long-established ethnic armed organizations in the country's border regions.

The coup and subsequent junta are led by General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar's armed forces, who also took on the role of prime minister after the takeover. He is the principal target of the revolution's demands for a return to civilian rule.

The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) launched in early February 2021 as doctors, teachers, railway workers, and other civil servants refused to work under the junta, paralyzing state functions. It became the mass, non-violent core of the Spring Revolution before armed resistance spread through the country.