Bangkok: Thailand’s Army chief imposed martial law on Tuesday after months of deadly anti-government protests caused political paralysis, but insisted the intervention did not amount to yet another military coup.
“The military will not tolerate any more loss of lives,” Thai Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha said.
“The Army aims to maintain peace, order and public safety for all groups and all parties,” the military said in a statement. It insisted that its assumption of responsibility for national security was not a coup.
“People are urged not to panic, and can carry on their business as usual. Declaring martial law is not a coup d'etat,” it said.
Gun-toting troops fanned out after martial law was declared in a dawn broadcast, as General Chan-O-Cha exploited century-old legislation that confers far-reaching powers on the armed forces to act in an emergency.
But he left the caretaker civilian government in office and later invited the country's warring political factions to sit down for talks, as the United States, the EU, Japan and Southeast Asian neighbours urged Thailand to stay on a democratic track and resolve its differences peacefully.
Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister, Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan, said on Tuesday he had asked the Election Commission to organise an election on Aug. 3. Mr Niwatthamrong also said he would talk to the Army Chief “as soon as possible” to end the country's political crisis hours after the Army declared martial law.
The dismissal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier this month in a controversial court ruling has stoked tensions in the kingdom, which has endured years of political turmoil.
“Red Shirt” supporters of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed as premier in a 2006 coup, have warned of the threat of civil war if power is handed to an unelected leader, as Opposition protesters demand.
Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, said on Twitter that the imposition of martial law was expected but must not “destroy” democracy.
New York-based Human Rights Watch branded the imposition of martial law a “de facto coup”, voicing alarm at the impact on freedom of expression.
Thailand’s Army suspended broadcasts on several television channels in a sweeping move to censor the media after the declaration of martial law across the bitterly divided nation.
The channels were suspended “in order that people will get the correct information and not distort information to deepen the conflict”, according to a written order broadcast simultaneously on all television channels.
The channels ordered to stop broadcasting included three pro-government “Red Shirt” channels as well as the anti-government protesters main satellite channel Blue Sky TV — which has shown more than six months deadly protests round-the-clock and has been key in galvanising rallies. Television screens went blank for several seconds before the order was delivered on both channels.
All Thai TV stations are being guarded by the military, Thai public television announced, showing pictures of soldiers and armoured vehicles taking positions outside broadcast facilities in the country's capital.
