This Myanmar hairdresser has swapped his scissors for a rifle and military fatigues to fight the junta

Since the February coup, local ‘defence forces’ have sprung up across Myanmar and many protesters have trekked into the jungle for military training

‘There is a difference between being armed and not being armed. Everyone is fighting for their lives,’ Alfie wrote on Facebook after receiving training

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Protesters hold placards with portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration in February. Photo: TNS

Published: 3:00pm, 6 Jun 2021Updated: 2:29pm, 6 Jul 2021

Alfie would normally be working in his salon in Yangon but he, like many other young people in Myanmar, has abandoned his regular life to take up arms against the military junta that seized power in February.

The 26-year-old hairdresser has cultivated a glamorous profile online, through a mixture of celebrity clientele and his own TikTok and social media content. After initially joining the anti-coup protests demanding a return to civilian rule, the Kachin native has traded his clippers for a rifle.

Alfie has regularly posted photos from his training with the Kachin Independence Army. His Facebook posts, which include pictures of him posing in green combat fatigues in the jungle and holding an assault rifle, have become a hit among his followers.

“The revolt in the city is the same as the revolt in the woods,” he wrote on Facebook last month. “There is a difference between being armed and not being armed. Everyone is fighting for their lives.”

The military has claimed it seized power because of fraud in the November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Since the coup, security forces have launched a violent crackdown on dissent which has left 840 people dead, according to figures from activists cited by the United Nations. The junta says about 300 people have died.