The king of Thailand is expected to endorse the leader of the military coup that placed the army in control of the nation, it emerged on Sunday, amid growing protests against the military takeover and widespread detention of activists and academics.
News of the king’s move, delivered through local media, came the same day that the junta dissolved the country’s last remaining democratic institution – the senate – and ordered dozens of activists and journalists to turn themselves in to the army.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 86, who is ailing and frail, is not expected to attend the a royal ceremony on Monday morning at the Royal Thai Army headquarters in Bangkok. But his endorsement will give legitimacy to the junta’s new government and allow its leader – army chief and acting prime minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha – to establish an interim constitution and legislative and reform committees.
Under the name of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the junta has brought sweeping changes in a matter of days. On Thursday, it dissolved the lower house of parliament and suspended the constitution — one Gen Prayuth had previously helped draw up during the last military coup in 2006. By emptying out both the house and senate, junta can bypass the need for parliamentary approval of new laws.
By late on Saturday the junta had also announced it had dissolved the senate and would be assuming control of all lawmaking powers. Several hours earlier, it had summoned 35 prominent academics and activists to report to army headquarters in addition to some 155 leading politicians and leaders it had already called in for questioning.
The council has also sacked the police chief and head of the Department of Special Investigations – Thailand’s FBI. On Sunday afternoon it called in the editors of 18 major Thai newspapers — among them Khaosod, the Bangkok Post, ASTV, Matichon and Thairath — according to the online news portal Prachatai. It was not clear if the editors would be allowed to leave or detained in unknown locations like those arrested earlier, Guardian informs.
