BANGKOK, Thailand – Thai military forces launched an overnight coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra late Tuesday, declaring martial law nationwide and seizing control of television stations as tanks and armed soldiers surrounded the prime minister’s residence.
Retired Lt. Gen. Prapart Sakuntanak, a spokesman for coup organizers, addressed the nation on television, explaining that the revolt was necessary because Thaksin’s government had divided the country and corruption was rampant.
He said Thailand’s constitution and government was suspended and replaced by military law. But he assured the country’s 63 million residents that the seizure would be temporary and power would be “returned to the people” soon.
Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who is known to be close to Thailand’s king, and is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation, will be acting prime minister, said an army spokesman, Col. Akara Chitroj.
The prime minister, who has faced repeated calls to step down amid allegations of corruption, electoral manipulation and poor handling of a Muslim uprising, was in New York at the United Nations when the coup occurred. He canceled a planned address to the General Assembly and was reportedly making plans to leave New York.
The coup, the first in Thailand in 15 years, unfolded without a shot, as soldiers and tanks surrounded the royal palace, the prime minister’s office and other central government buildings in Bangkok.
Streets in the normally hectic city of Bangkok emptied early Tuesday as military trucks with loudspeakers ordered residents into their homes. As a light rain fell today, hundreds of onlookers gathered outside Government House, the prime minister’s official residence. Many cheered as a leader of the revolt passed in a limousine.
In the early morning hours, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned for nearly 60 years, appeared on Thai television with Sondhi in what was considered a show of his unquestioned support for the overthrow.
“The king’s appearance on TV is seen as his stamp of approval for the coup,” said Neil Englehart, a political scientist at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University and an expert on Thai politics. “You’ve got the highest-ranking officer in the military and the king appearing together. That’s a pretty convincing message.”
“This is pretty clearly the end for Thaksin,” said Joshua Kurlantzick, a Carnegie Endowment scholar who specializes in southeast Asia. “I don’t see how he can recover.”
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