Thailand's military rulers detained former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday, a senior officer said, after summoning her for talks a day after the army overthrew her caretaker government in a coup, according to The Associated Press.
Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha set out his plans for the country, saying reforms were needed before an election, but some Thais defied martial law to protest against the takeover, the AP reported.
Prayuth launched his coup after rival factions refused to give ground in a struggle for power between the royalist establishment and Yingluck's populist government that had raised fears of serious violence and damaged the economy, according to the AP.
In what appeared to be a coordinated operation to neutralize possible opposition to the coup, the military summoned the ousted Yingluck to a meeting and then banned her and 154 others, including politicians and activists, from leaving Thailand, the AP reported.
Yingluck is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire telecommunications tycoon turned politician who won huge support among the poor but the loathing of the royalist establishment, largely over accusations of corruption and nepotism, according to the AP. He was ousted as premier in a 2006 military coup.
An aide to a minister in the ousted government who declined to be identified said some people, including his minister, had been detained, the AP reported. A former aide to Yingluck said she had been out of telephone contact for hours.
Yingluck was forced to step down as prime minister by a court on May 7 but her caretaker government, buffeted by more than six months of protests against it, had remained nominally in power, even after the army declared martial law on Tuesday, according to the AP.
The armed forces have a long history of intervening in politics, with 18 previous successful or attempted coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the AP reported.
