Thai Army Chief Announces Military Coup

Jakarta Globe, AFP & Reuters, May 22, 2014

Thai Deputy Supreme Commander General Worapong Sanganetra,
Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Narong Pipattanasai,
 Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army General Prayuth Chan-ocha,
 Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force Air Chief Marshal Prachin
 Chantong and Police Chief Police General Adul Saengsingkaew attend a news
 conference at The Army Club after the army declared martial law nationwide in
Bangkok on May 20, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Athit Perawongmetha)

[Updated at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, 2014]

Bangkok. Thailand’s army chief announced in an address to the nation on Thursday that the armed forces were seizing power after months of deadly political turmoil.

“In order for the country to return to normal quickly the National Peace Keeping Committee comprised of the army, the Thai armed forces, the Royal Air Force and the police need to seize power as of May 22 at 4:30 p.m.,” army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said.

The military declared martial law on Tuesday to prevent more violence between government supporters loyal to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and anti-government protesters backed by the royalist establishment.

The broadcast came shortly after soldiers took the leader of anti-government protests, Suthep Thaugsuban, out of the meeting that was aimed at finding a solution to a drawn-out power struggle that has polarized the country and battered its economy.

Call for compromise

Prayuth had called on the two sides in a first round of talks on Wednesday to agree on a compromise that would have hinged around the appointment of an interim prime minister, political reforms and the timing of an election.

Wednesday’s talks ended inconclusively with neither side backing down from their entrenched positions, participants said.

The army had let rival protesters remain on the streets but it banned them from marching to prevent clashes. It has also clamped down on the media, including partisan television channels, and warned people not to spread inflammatory material on social media.

After the coup announcement, a senior army official said troops would escort protests away from their rally sites.

Leaders of the ruling Puea Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party, the Senate leader and the five-member Election Commission had joined the second round of talks at an army base in Bangkok.

Acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan told reporters before the talks that his government could not resign as its enemies were demanding as that would contravene the constitution.

“The government wants the problem solved in a democratic way which includes a government that comes from elections,” he said.

Government officials were not available for comment after the coup announcement.

Violent protestors

Former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin has lived in self-exile since 2008 to avoid a jail term for graft, but still commands the loyalty of legions of rural and urban poor and exerts a huge influence over politics, most recently through a government run by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck was forced to step down as premier by a court two weeks ago, but her caretaker government remains nominally in power, despite the declaration of martial law and six months of sometimes violent protests aimed at ousting it.

Thailand’s gross domestic product contracted 2.1 percent in January-March from the previous three months, largely because of the unrest, adding to fears it is stumbling into recession.

The protesters say Thaksin is a corrupt crony capitalist who commandeered Thailand’s fragile democracy, using taxpayers’ money to buy votes with populist giveaways.

They wanted a “neutral” interim prime minister to oversee electoral reforms aimed at ridding the country of the Shinawatra family’s political influence before any new vote.

The government and its supporters said a general election that it would likely win was the best way forward and it had proposed polls on August 3, to be followed by reforms.

Earlier on Thursday, anti-government protest leader Suthep, a former deputy prime minister in a government run by the pro-establishment Democrat Party, told his supporters victory was imminent.

Thaksin’s red shirt loyalists, rallying in Bangkok’s outskirts, had warned of violence if the caretaker government is thrown out.

Twenty-eight people have been killed and 700 injured since this latest chapter in the power struggle between Thaksin and the royalist elite flared up late last year.

Additional reporting by Juarawee Kittisilpa

Agence France-Presse and Reuters