Day After Coup
Posted by Stuart at 01:51 PM on September 20, 2006The Thai word for today is ba-tdi-wat, or coup. This word is on every front page newspaper in Thailand. 2Bangkok.com has an interesting photo gallery of today's front pages and my friend Johan has scanned and posted the front pages of the two English language newspapers
There are a lot of sites that are giving good information and several blogs that are giving play by play accounts, for example: Bangkok Pundit's Part 1 and Part 2 as well one of my favorite Thai bloggers, Lynn, reporting on various rumors and facts that are swirling around today. There's even a Flickr photoset of last night's events.
Piyawat and I just went out for lunch and were surprised to see that soldiers in camouflage with big guns have been posted all up and down Ekkamai and Thong Lo streets. We also saw a few big trucks with guns on top cruising the sois. Here's one of them that we were driving behind. Sorry for the terrible quality, but we never got a good angle. (And yes, the guy on top is sitting behind a VERY large gun.)
Right now, at least in this part of town, things are mostly normal. People are out having lunch, seemingly relaxed and unworried. However, the rumors continue to spread, with the latest being that the worst is not over yet. I don't think Thaksin will go down without a fight. In any case, I think I'll stay close to home for the rest of the day.
Glad to hear you are OK. The news reports stateside about the coup are very non-committal so far and most of the experts that I have heard seemed to think that something like this was inevitable given the recent political situation in Thailand. I am kind of surprised that there has not been more outrage about the military overthrowing an elected government. I guess the fact that it has been bloodless so far has subdued any criticism.
Stay safe.