Thai army chief announces military coup

BANGKOK, May 22, 2014 (AFP) - Thailand's army chief announced in a televised 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 pm," army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said.

The commander-in-chief, who invoked martial law on Tuesday, said the coup was needed to prevent the conflict escalating.

"All Thais must remain calm and government officials must work as normal," he added.

The move came after military-hosted talks between the kingdom's political rivals apparently failed to reach a compromise on ending nearly seven months of mass protests on the streets of Bangkok.

Rival protest leaders at the talks -- held at a heavily guarded military facility in the capital -- were seen being taken away by the army although it was unclear whether they had been formally detained.

The long-running political crisis broadly pits a Bangkok-based royalist elite and its backers against the billionaire family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, a former tycoon-turned-populist politician, was ousted by the military in a coup in 2006 but still enjoys strong support, particularly in rural northern Thailand.

His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was dismissed as prime minister earlier this month in a controversial court ruling after months of protests seeking her overthrow.

Her supporters have warned of possible civil war if opposition demonstrators achieve their goal of seeing an unelected interim premier take power to oversee vaguely defined reforms widely seen as a bid to cripple the Thaksin family's political power.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-05-22

Yippee!

(About bl**dy time.)

Yippee!

(About bl**dy time.)

Oh dear, now there may well be even bigger problems

Fark! It's a duck!

Boom there it is

Shit got real

As if nobody seen that coming!! I wonder what that means for the PDRC and UDD protest groups? Get off the streets now and go home??

This is a Ballsy move by Prayuth indeed..

maybe thaksin, the ptp, suthep and the reds should have kept their mouths shut and just let everything settle instead of provoking this, no one to blame but themselves

edit, more scum added

They just don't learn do they. And the hateful cycle starts again.

well he gave the kids time to sort themselves out and they did not.

Thanks to God!

I've been asking and waiting for this for a lo-o-ong time.

Seems the Military called a fake meeting of heads of both Reds & Yellows then arrested them all?

11 folks from what I can understand Suthep & Jutaporn included

man, what happens now? So there will be an interim government installed, elections in say 6-9 months, some red/Thaksin proxy party back in blah blah rinse and repeat

Will they let Suthep out for his victory party or will they keep him in custody in the army camp?

song, "where have all the (PTP) flowers gone, long time passing"

bad, very bad, very depressing news

So now an interim government who can see through reforms then an election?

Seems the Military called a fake meeting of heads of both Reds & Yellows then arrested them all?

11 folks from what I can understand Suthep & Jutaporn included

Yep. That was my first thought as well.

Oh man. And they were doing so well. Guess they couldn't resist the cookie jar once they got so close. This shows that no progress has been made or is planning on being made in politics and the military can basically take over whenever they want to regardless of laws or government.

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

That happened without any warning, amazing Thailand....

Was there anybody left in a Thailand who did not expect this?

Will they let Suthep out for his victory party or will they keep him in custody in the army camp?

You want to say anything about Chalerm/cabinet.

Eat your words Thaksin from another thread---BIG GOB. this could well have been the final straw from him---Army has had enough of mighty mouth.

maybe thaksin and the ptp should have kept their mouths shut and just let everything settle instead of provoking this, no one to blame but themselves

As much as I dislike Thaksin for what he has done to this country, a lot of blame has to be laid at Suthep's door as well. Intransigence on both sides has led to this. The stupid fools had a chance, no matter how slim, of making compromises for the good of all, but would they do it? Would they h-ll. Now they may well reap the whirlwind.

Not a happy day for Thailand. I hope that cool heads prevail, even though they have not up to this point.

Channel News Asia has some great coverage in English now

Seems they did not finished their homework as assigned....

So there, punished

Let us hope it is for the best.....

Let's see, what happens next!

Sent from my SM-N900 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Presumably the powers that be were getting the message that the international community did not buy the martial law ploy, and so decided that they might as well come clean if the negative reaction was coming anyway.

Oh man. And they were doing so well. Guess they couldn't resist the cookie jar once they got so close. This shows that no progress has been made or is planning on being made in politics and the military can basically take over whenever they want to regardless of laws or government.

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

You really don't get it! Do you!

EXPECTED

maybe thaksin and the ptp should have kept their mouths shut and just let everything settle instead of provoking this, no one to blame but themselves

Maybe Suthep should have kept his mouth shut, no one to blame but himself.

(hes been locked up as well)