22 May 2014

Thailand: curfew declared after military coup

Two days after declaring martial law, Thailand’s army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha seizes control of the government, and troops move in to break up protest rallies.

Video: Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Miller reports on the situation in Thailand, and Reporter Cordelia Lynch reports on the latest advice for travellers.

The army made its move as talks with the country’s rival political leaders entered a second day.

Hundred of extra troops were sent to the army club of Bangkok, where the talks were taking place and, according to witnesses, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban was taken away.

Shortly after, General Chan-ocha made a television broadcast announcing the army takeover, saying it was needed to restore order and push through reforms.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “seriously concerned” by the military takeover, and called for a swift return to democratic rule.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was no justification for the military action, while the Pentagon said it would review its military assistance and engagement with Thailand, including an ongoing exercise involving some 700 US Marines and sailors.

The army also declared a curfew across the country between 10pm and 5am, and decreed that all Thai radio and TV stations must stop normal programmes and broadcast only army material. It then said that gatherings of more than five people would be banned, and that anyone who disobeys facing over a year in prison.

Phil Humber is a British IT consultant currently on a business trip in Bangkok. Upon news of the curfew he returned to the Grand Millennium Sukhumvit hotel.

He told Channel 4 News: “I was keeping up to date via BBC but suddenly it went off the air. Half an hour later, a montage of pictures of the royal family started appearing and then what seemed like local news started playing.

“Now BBC World, CNN, Discovery, the History channel, and all of the local channels are currently off air and showing the same image. There are rumours that we could even lose internet access later tonight.”

Mark Vaughan-Brown, who owns a number of legal firms operating out of Phuket and Bangkok, told Channel 4 News that the curfew is likely to disrupt business when it was implemented later this evening.

The Shinawatra influence

Anti-government protesters had said they would stage demonstrations if elections were held before changes were made to reduce the influence of the Shinawatra family. Last week the former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted after accusations of corruption and nepotism.

The protracted political crisis in Thailand has seen protesters from pro- and anti-government groups rallying in and around the capital Bangkok. Bangkok resident and English teacher Andrea McMillan Arrowsmith told Channel 4 News that she had not seen a single soldier, and looking from her window onto a busy road a quarter of an hour after the curfew was due to start “there is a surprising amount of traffic”. She added: “On my walk home down Sukhumvit the market stalls traded as normal and the bustle of tourists slowed down my pace as it always does.”

Protesters dispersed

On Thursday General Teerachi Nakwanit, the first regional army commander, told Reuters that troops and vehicles would be sent to “escort protesters away from rally sites”. In response the leader of the pro-Thaksin red shirts told Reuters that their rally would continue, despite the coup.

Later, soldiers fired into the air to disperse thousands of red shirt activists at a protest site in Bangkok’s western suburbs, and the military detained at least one of the activist leaders, according to protest spokesman Thanawut Wichaidit.

The Thai army said it had seized dozens of weapons from at least four provinces around Bangkok in raids conducted after martial law was imposed.

Deputy army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told a press conference: “Heavy-duty weapons have been one of the major problems that contributed to the earlier violence in the country. Under the POMC (Peace and Order Maintaining Command) policy, we will be taking absolute measures”.