Viral Myanmar Aerobics Video Seemingly Captures Military Coup as It Happens

A viral video appears to show the Myanmar military coup going on while an aerobics instructor conducts a class in the foreground. The video surfaced on King Hnin Wai’s Facebook page and shows her performing a workout routine while a convoy of army tricks appear to be doing down the 20-lane Yaza Htarni Road, towards the parliament building in Myanmar’s capital city, Naypyidaw. The teacher does not appear to know what is going on behind her, but social media did.

Khing often publishes workout videos and has a large Facebook following, notes the New York Post. Some wondered if the video was real, but Khing has shared several other videos from the exact same location. “This masked woman in Myanmar live-streaming her workout routine oblivious to the coup taking place right behind her may just prove to be thee most emblematic video of the 2020s,” one Twitter user wrote. “Talk about a revolutionary workout,” another wrote.

On Monday, the Myanmar military removed the democratically elected leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and declared a state of emergency for one year, reports Al Jazeera. The military claimed there was alleged voter fraud during the general election in November after her National League for Democracy party won. In 2015, her party established the country’s first civilian government in half a century. Her party won over 80% of the vote in November, an increase from the 2015 elections.

Aung San Suu Kyi is popular in Myanmar and spent two decades under house arrest during the last time the military lead the country. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her opposition to military rule. Her international standing fell in recent years though, as she failed to stop the expulsion of the Rohingya people, which has been considered a genocide by the international community.

In response to the coup, President Joe Biden threatened sanctions against Myanmar. Biden called it a “direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and rule of law,” reports the Associated Press. “The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said Monday. “The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.”