We cannot ignore the military coup in Myanmar 1 hr Myanmar is fast descending into the very worst kind of military dictatorship, with arbitrary arrest and judicial murder as the main levers of state control. The UK government must step up the arms embargo on Myanmar. On 1 February this year, the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military, launched a coup d’etat against the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) which won over 80% of the seats in the national elections, declared a so-called state of emergency and locked up their opponents including Aung San Suu Kyi. The people of Myanmar are suffering the most appalling state-sponsored repression, violence and murder, and the world merely looks on. Protesters are risking, and losing, their lives to defend basic liberties and some semblance of democracy. In the UK, students from Myanmar have been on a three-day hunger strike to focus attention on the deteriorating situation in their home country. I have written to the Home Secretary demanding that students from Myanmar in the UK will not be forced back when their visas expire.