September 19, 2006
MSNBC
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a state of emergency Wednesday as coup rumors swept Bangkok and witnesses reported tanks heading for downtown.
"I declare Bangkok under a severe state of emergency," he said in a voice broadcast on Thai television. Thaksin, who is in New York at a United Nations summit, ordered troops not to "move illegally."
Thaksin said he was ordering the transfer of the nation's army chief to work in the prime minister's office, effectively suspending him from his military duties.
Several hundred soldiers were deployed at government installations and major intersections in the capital of Bangkok, according to an Associated Press reporter. Army television broadcast images of the royal family and songs associated in the past with military coups.
Meantime, a witness told Reuters that around 50 soldiers inside Government House ordered police to lay down their weapons shortly after tanks surrounded the building.
Government officials said Thaksin planned to return from New York on Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled. They gave no reason.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14906669/