No one wants a front-row seat to the end of democracy in their country, so perhaps it’s best that Khing Knin Wai was dancing with her back turned through most of it.
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Video posted online Monday shows the school teacher leading a livestreamed fitness class in Myanmar‘s capital city, even as the country’s military drives through the background to stage a coup behind her.
The three-and-a-half-minute video shows Khing Hnin Wai working through several aerobics routines in front of a massive parking lot, where soldiers can be seen lined up at a barricade in the distance. She runs through an energetic routine but never appears to notice the military convoy rolling past behind her.
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The video shows several military vehicles rolling up to the checkpoint, then passing through on their way to the seat of Myanmar’s government.
A shorter version of the video later captured millions of views on Twitter.
Una mujer hizo su clase de aerobic sin darse cuenta de que estaban dando el golpe de Estado en Myanmar. Y pues puede verse como el convoy de militares llega al parlamento. pic.twitter.com/fmFUzhawRe
— Àngel Marrades (@VonKoutli) February 1, 2021
Khing Hnin Wai identifies herself on Facebook as a physical education teacher and has posted several videos from the same spot in Naypyitaw, near the country’s parliament. Storyful reports that the scene appears to be a real location within the city’s Ministry Zone.
The song in the video is Ampun Bang Jago, a protest song by Indonesian artists Tian Storm and Ever Slkr. The lyrics discuss a power struggle between authorities and the people, the South China Morning Post reports.
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Khing Hnin Wai’s video generated millions of views online, though she has since downplayed her fame and insisted that there was no political intent to the clip. She has also restricted access to her original video, which can now only be watched on Facebook.
The video continues to circulate elsewhere, and Storm himself has applauded it on his Instagram page.
The teacher has not responded to various media outlets’ requests for comment.
“I wasnt dancing to mock or ridicule any organization or to be silly I was dancing for a fitness dance competition,” she wrote on Facebook, according to the South China Morning Post.
Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday and declared a one-year state of emergency. The military also deposed Myanmar’s democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won a sweeping victory in last year’s election.
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Several Western nations, including Canada, have condemned the coup.
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
