Fear of an armed conflict between rival factions of the army split over the removal of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power subsided around midnight as it became clear that the coup leaders were firmly in control.
ScandAsia reporter Morten Perregaard reported at 01:30 from outside the Government House that the scene was calm and people walked freely about and looked curiously at the soldier.
“The scene here reminds me of an open house event organised by a home defense division back in Denmark where friendly soldiers invite 10 year old boys to have a look at all their impressive hardware,” he said with amazement.
Public offices and private companies were at first expected to open as usual on Wednesday although many were expected to wait a day more to see if the new leadership is indeed firmly in control.
Later, at 2:25, TV channel 5 – the only TV channel that remained open – announced that the new leadership had declared Wednesday a public holiday as well as a bank holiday.
All leaders of government departments and institutions were requested on Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock to go to the army headquarter in Rajadamnoen Nok to attend a briefing at 9 o’clock on how to manage the country under the policy of the new leadership.
Executive Director John Svengren of Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce announced by email to the members, that he and the staff would close on Wednesday. President Leo Alexandersen of Thai-Danish Chamber of Commerce expected that the final decision to be taken in the morning would be to open the office as usual.
The Royal Danish Embassy at 1:45 encouraged resident Danes by email to keep themselves informed of the latest travel recommendations from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Here, the Danes were advised that the situation seemed calm but could suddenly change. If large crowds of people should build up the Danes were advised to avoid them as well as stay away from main government buildings and strictly adhere to orders isued by the Thai authorities.
The advice in Danish is published here: Rejsevejledning for Thailand
The Royal Norwegian Embassy reported on its website that there seemed to be no reason for relatives to be worried about the safety of Norwegians in Thailand. The embassy advices resident Norwegians to stay indoor during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday and otherwise keep themselves informed of the situation via media.
The advice in Norwegian is published here: http://www.emb-norway.or.th/
The Embassy of Finland had also posted a briefing for Finnish nationals in Finnish language: Lue lisää
The Swedish travel advice is here: ;
