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.