Thailand: Liveblogging the coup

At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand – a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai.

Video copies of coup-related announcements are appearing on YouTube. Below is the first televised announcement of the take-over by the military.

There's also a capture of the televised announcement of the “first and second orders of the Democratic Reform Coucil”, a previously unknow organisation and the name used by the military who have taken control of Bangkok.

A search on the photo-sharing website flickr on the keyword “coup” brings up nearly 100 pictures from Thailand posted within the last 24 hours from pictures of the army in position round the streets of Bangkok…

soldier.jpg
[Picture by goshen42]

…to visual evidence of the blocking of foreign cable TV channels

tv.jpg
[Picture by kengz]

The bulletin board 2Bangkok.com has a regularly-updated page devoted to the current coup events High tension in Thailand but the most recent post warns that internet connections are becoming very slow.

12 comments

  • Thailand…

    People inside Thailand are chatting, reporting, debating and collating right now. Go see. A brand new purpose-built weblog (via) reports that a popular local political discussion site has closed down due to ‘over crowded news and argument’, so – on…..

  • Noy

    The size of the gun comparing to the height of the body of Thai soldier is quite interesting. In Hollywood movie, American soldiers can take 2 guns shooting at the same time to the enemy. I just wonder how America will get involved in this coup because in the past the failing coups was related to non-approvement by the US.

  • Sondhi

    Most people still suppor Thanksin. They believe that the coup is executed in order to stop the demonstration against Thanksin and to warn the opposition parties (Democrat party which is said to be bi-sexual party).

  • […] 3:00am – My bosses start calling me. If the situation gets out of hand, I am to evacuate by whatever means out of the country. I tell them that it’s a peaceful coup. 7:00am – The “Bangkok Post” devotes its front page to the Coup. And little else. Looks like a media blackout. BBC/CNN are all off the the air. 7.10am – Realize that the Bangkok Post’s website is down. Were they shutdown or have crashed due to high traffic? 7:20am – Fat dude at the hotel cafe informs everybody that he saw this coming. What a jerk. 9:00am – Locals inform me that yesterday, middle to high ranking police officers were all told to expect the unexpected and keep the people calm. 9:30am – Travel advisory arrives from my company. The Bangkok Dong Muang airport remains open. No employees are to travel to Bangkok in the next 24 hours. Employees already in Thailand are to contact our travel agents for possible evacution, notify our embassies and stay in our hotels. 10:11am – Thaksin says he has fired the general in charge of the coup. Is he still PM though? 10:12am – TV shows that Coup leaders have told the king they’re taking over the country. 10:14am – I’ve learned that Thaksin has canceled his speech to the UN and it is unclear when he will be returning to Thailand. I hope he told his hotel that he might be extending his stay… 10:15am – Here’s the profile of Coup Leader One 10:22am – Found a great Flickr group with photos of the coup events. 10:24am – Somebody sent me this link. There is now a rumor that Thaksin’s cabinet and politicial figures are now plan to hold a satellite government in Singapore with the hope to lobby the UN to back them as the true representative government. 10:31am – Here’s the frontpage of the Bangkok post. Click to see larger image. 10:34am – Thaksin’s wife has fled to Singapore. His children’s whereabouts are unknown and his followers in Bangkok have been detained (via) 10:46am – I’ve been told that the stock market, banks and schools are closed. 10:48am – Thai Baht, Bonds slip even further with closure of the stock market. The baht was quoted at 37.735 to the dollar, down from 37.305 late Tuesday. (via) 10:50am – Holed up in a plush New York hotel as tanks rumbled into Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was a spectator at his own downfall as a coup by mutinous generals played out on live TV. (via) 11:13am – Realize with great relief that my company has its own canteen (8 canteens in fact), showers in the washrooms, enough staff to form an army and 3 ATM’s. In case shit happens, we would be able to establish a rebel state. Haha. 11:15am – Head hurts. I should not have drank so much Bacardi last night. 11:55am – Locals tell me that the opposition party has praised the army for staging the coup. 11:59am – Traders who hoard goods will be dealt with severely. Political gatherings of more than 5 people is now banned. 12:01pm – Rumours say Thaksin is fleeing to London. 12:04pm – The Information and Communication Technology Ministry has been ordered to review and censor material that will impede Thailand’s return to normal life. Goodbye to the Thai edition of Playboy. 12:52pm – Travel agent calls to see if I’m alive and kicking. Asks if I would like to leave immediately. 12:56pm – Pondering how this will affect business of the whores in Bangkok. Poor biatches… 01:03pm – My staff in Thailand are generally happy that Thaksin is out. He looked like such a good person…. but was an arsehole maximus. 03:21pm – Bank of Thailand Governor MR Pridiyathorn Devakula is the new PM. He’s flying back to Bangkok from Singapore where he’s currently attending the IMF conference. 04:07pm – The democrat party is bisexual 04:10pm – A civilian government will be appointed to run the country within two weeks. Thaksin has arrived in London to reunite with his family. I guess they’re on permanent holiday. Also former Thai Rak Thai MP Surapol Kiartchaiyakorn is seen taking away from the Chiang Mai Airport by soldiers on a military vehicle. […]

  • […] Instead, try visiting neighboring press-repressing dictatorships in Laos, Vietnam or even Singapore. Austin was also live blogging the coup at his site. Global Voices has other links. For background on the political situation in Thailand ahead of the coup, the Far Eastern Economic Review’s Colum Murphy has one of the better summaries. Written ahead of the coup, but for this month’s issue, the following line stands out: To be sure, a military intervention to oust Mr. Thaksin is always a possibility, although some—but not all—analysts agree that this seems unlikely at this point. Those with less sanguine views predict that there will be no compromise between the two (the prime minister and king), and say that this game will produce only one winner and one loser. If this turns out to be the case, then the next weeks and months could see bloody confrontation on the streets of Bangkok and throughout the kingdom. […]

  • Blogging the Thai Coup:…

    Global Voices Online is liveblogging the coup and its aftermath, updating from the multitude of Thai blogs in English, including the new group blog devoted to the event, 19Sep All of them contain links and embeds of video clips of……

  • […] A blog with updates on the ongoing military coup in Thailand. Global Voices has more on liveblogging the coup. And some wonderful photographs to explore at Flickr tagged as Thailand and coup. […]

  • […] Here’s a good group blog called 19Sep that gives a different flavor of “news” from the perspective of a citizen witnessing events unfolding. Global Voices is also providing good content of what’s happening in the Thai blogosphere. […]

  • […] UPDATE: Global Voices has some excellent liveblogging and lots of good homebrew photos from Bangkok bloggers in this post here. A.M. Mora y Leon @ 10:00 am | […]

  • […] While I don’t really tend to cover current events, the bloging (and the Flickring, and the YouTube activities, etc) going on about the Thailand coup is fascinating.  Of course, this post sums up the activity better than I ever could. […]

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