Bangkok, Thailand – Thai army leaders deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a longtime ally of President Bush, using tanks and soldiers to seize the capital Tuesday night without firing a shot.
The coup was the first in 15 years in a country where many people believed that military seizures of power were a thing of the past.
Thaksin was in New York, attending the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, when soldiers surrounded Government House, his office, at about 10:30 p.m.
He declared a state of emergency by phone, but his announcement, carried on TV, was cut off midway and had no discernible effect as army units seized key facilities in a light rain.
Thaksin canceled a planned address to the General Assembly. On Tuesday night, he remained secluded in a New York hotel, with some sources saying he would leave for an undisclosed location, probably not Thailand.
Opposition to Thaksin gained momentum in January when his family announced it had sold its controlling stake in telecommunications company Shin Corp. to Singapore’s state-owned Temasek Holdings for a tax-free $1.9 billion.
Critics allege the sale involved insider trading and complain that a key national asset moved to foreign hands.
Thaksin also has been accused of stifling the news media and mishandling a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand that flared under his rule.
In the mostly Muslim south, separatist insurgents have waged a bloody campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead, mostly civilians, since 2004. Citizens there have complained of rights abuses by soldiers and discrimination by the Buddhist majority.
In his first public appearance since seizing power, Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, commander in chief of the army, today asked for the public’s support and declared the coup was necessary to end serious conflicts within Thai society that Thaksin had created.
Delivering a brief television address in front of giant portraits of Thailand’s king and queen, Sondhi said the coup leaders had no intention of retaining power. He was flanked by chiefs of the three armed services and the head of the national police.
Opponents of the prime minister cheered the coup; some of them turned out in the early morning to greet soldiers sitting atop tanks parked on Bangkok streets.
Thaksin is widely popular in rural Thailand, where most of the population lives, and there was little immediate response from those communities.
Sondhi and other coup leaders are close to Thailand’s deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. What role, if any, the monarch played in the takeover was unknown.
Some of the coup soldiers sported cloths of yellow, the royal color, on their arms and gun barrels in an attempt to signal they were acting in support of the king.
Reports said coup leaders had met with the king in his palace.
In past political crises, a few words from the king, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, have dramatically turned the course of events.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist, said he had been fearful in the initial hours of uncertainty that troops loyal to Thaksin might fight back.
But concerns of bloodshed subsided as no such opposition appeared. As the sun rose today, the city was quiet.
Army TV gave the first sign that something was afoot when it begin broadcasting patriotic songs and images of the king.
An announcer said the reasons for the coup d’etat lay in the deep divisions that had been created over the past year.
“It really does appear the situation would destroy the unity of the people, each side declaring they would beat each other,” he said. The army spokesman, Col. Akarat Chitroj, told The Associated Press that Sondhi would serve as prime minister.
But a government spokesman denied Thaksin was no longer head of government.
“I just talked to a senior party member, and everyone confirms that Thaksin is still prime minister,” Susasanee Nakpong told AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
