Shinawatra family targeted as Thai military tightens grip

Thailand's military dictatorship summoned the deposed prime minister and members of the influential Shinawatra family on Friday, broadening its political clampdown under sweeping powers it has assumed after its 12th successful coup of the modern era.

Central Bangkok was quieter than normal and schools across the city were closed by military order, as Thailand's more than 65m people watched the unfolding of a junta takeover that has sparked criticism from western powers and Japan. A curfew between 10pm and 5am kept people off the streets.

Television stations were off air, replaced by patriotic music, military announcements and footage from an army channel showing cleared protest sites, normal life and interviews with people praising the coup.

After detaining prominent pro- and anti-government political leaders at a meeting on Thursday to discuss the country's future, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha's ruling junta called in ousted premier Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan and Yingluck Shinawatra, another former prime minister, who was deposed by a contentious court ruling on May 7.

Ms Yingluck arrived at around noon for the meeting to which she had been summoned at an army centre in Bangkok. More than 20 of her associates, including ministers in the government she led, were also ordered to appear before the military, which imposed a foreign travel ban on 155 people, including politicians and activists.

Gen Prayuth is also expected to meet King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Friday at the royal palace in the coastal town of Hua Hin.

Ms Yingluck is the younger sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, the self-exiled former premier who was the driver of the toppled government and is at the heart of the escalating political crisis in southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

Robert Amsterdam, lawyer for Mr Thaksin and the "red shirt" movement broadly loyal to him, called for "immediate proof from the current junta that red shirt leaders and others who were detained remain safe and unharmed".

The latest assertion of the military's primacy in Thailand's nominally democratic system is a test for investors who have stuck with the export-manufacturing hub in spite of years of political turmoil and a shrinking economy.

The baht edged up 0.13 per cent against the dollar on Friday, as some investors expressed hopes that the coup could restore stability to Thailand after six months of debilitating political crisis.

Other analysts are much more pessimistic, pointing to the turmoil in the years after a 2006 military coup and the worsening of the country's political divide since.

The Siam Intelligence Unit think-tank warned people to "expect . . . the worst", adding: "The worst possible scenario is a chronic civil war."

John Kerry, US secretary of state, said on Thursday that the US was "reviewing" military and other assistance it gave to Thailand as a result of the coup. He urged the immediate restoration of civilian rule and a return to democracy.

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"I am concerned by reports that senior political leaders of Thailand's major parties have been detained and call for their release," Mr Kerry said. He warned that the coup would have "negative implications . . . especially for our relationship with the Thai military".

Gen Prayuth used a televised address on Thursday to urge people not to panic and said the military was taking over "to restore peace back to the country".

The mood in the capital reflected a sense that the sudden arbitrary removal of elected governments was something Thais had seen many times before - three times in the past eight years alone.

"It's better to have the coup," said Lek, a bank worker. "The situation will be very bad if no one controls it."

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