Opposition to Thai Coup Simmers, Ex-PM in 'Safe Place'
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was in a "safe place" on Saturday, an aide said, after being held by Thailand's army following its seizure of power this week, as opposition to the coup grew among her supporters and pro-democracy activists.
The army moved on Thursday after failing to forge a compromise in a power struggle between Yingluck's populist government and the royalist establishment, which brought months of sometimes violent unrest to Bangkok's streets.
The military detained Yingluck on Friday when she and 154 other people, mostly political associates, were summoned to an army facility in Bangkok, Reuters reported.
A senior officer had told Reuters she could be held for up to a week and Thai media reported she had been taken to an army base in Saraburi province north of Bangkok, but an aide denied that.
"Now she's in a safe place ... She has not been detained in any military camp. That's all I can say at this moment," the aide said, declining to be identified.
A source from her Puea Thai Party added, "We can't say she is absolutely free because there are soldiers in the area, monitoring her."
This source said several former ministers from her cabinet were being held in army facilities in Saraburi, neighboring Lopburi province or Bangkok.
Army deputy spokesman Winthai Suvaree told a news conference on Saturday that anyone being held would not be detained for more than seven days. He did not mention Yingluck.
Thailand's political woes are the latest chapter in a nearly decade-long clash between the Bangkok-based establishment and Thaksin Shinawatra, a former telecommunications tycoon who broke the mould of Thai politics with pro-poor policies that won him huge support and repeated electoral victories