People's Defence Force (Kalay) ( Burmese: ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့ (ကလေး)

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

PDF Kalay) is a local defence force operating in

Kalay Kalay (; , ''Kalü''), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located upstream from Mandalay and Monywa on the Myittha River, a tributary of the Chindwin River. The town is the district headquarters of the Kalay Distr ...

myo, Sagain. It was formed by Myanmar youths under the

National Unity Government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

and

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

activists in 2021 in response to the coup d'état that occurred on 1 February 2021 and the ongoing violence in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

by the

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

. The force comprises 12 battalions.

References

* * * 2021 establishments in Myanmar Ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar Military units and formations established in 2021 {{Myanmar-org-stub