– Media blackout –
All television and radio stations including foreign broadcasters were ordered to air only a steady stream of army announcements, and the junta warned it would block social media platforms that carry anti-coup content.
Bangkok was calm on Friday although its usually bustling streets were quieter than usual with schools ordered to temporarily close across the country.
Small anti-coup protests broke out in the city, while some people took to the Internet to vent their anger, posting messages such as “Thailand’s democracy was murdered by the coup”.
In contrast to the previous coup eight years ago, there was no sign of tanks or significant troop numbers deployed around the capital.
While some people welcomed the coup as a possible way out of the crisis, others voiced unease at the power grab.
“The army can do anything now and the people will not know,” said Wanit, a 50-year-old taxi driver who gave only one name.
A day earlier as the coup unfolded, there were dramatic scenes at a military-hosted meeting between the kingdom’s political rivals as army trucks blocked exits.
Inside, Prayut abruptly announced he was taking power after the two sides failed to reach a compromise, according to an official at the talks who did not want to be named.
“Because you cannot agree and the situation is likely to escalate into violence I declare that I seize power, so soldiers detain everyone inside this room,” the source quoted Prayut as saying.
“Don’t fight with soldiers,” the commander-in-chief warned, before armed troops detained those present one by one.
Election officials and senators were later released while others, including the leaders of the two main political parties as well as the rival protest leaders, were taken away to an undisclosed location.
The opposition said some of its politicians were released overnight but the whereabouts of the others remained unknown.
Thailand’s democratic development has now been interrupted by 19 actual or attempted coups since 1932, interventions that traditionally require the monarchy’s approval.
It was unclear whether the palace had blessed Prayut’s coup.
Some observers see the crisis as a struggle to decide who will run the country when the more than six-decade reign of ailing, 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej eventually ends.
Experts at the Siam Intelligence Unit, a Bangkok-based think-tank, expect an interim premier to be named and the junta to rule for up to two years and draft a “draconian” new constitution.
Some fear more turmoil.
“The coup is not a solution at all to end the crisis. This will become the crisis,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Japan’s Kyoto University.
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