Update zur Lage in Thailand 24.05.2014

The latest on ’s mili­ta­ry coup as of this morning, Satur­day 24th May…
•    Pro­test Sites - Demons­tra­tors have been clea­red from all major sites in and around as of yes­ter­day. The­re have, howe­ver, been small pockets of pro­tes­ters pop­ping up around the city who are voi­cing their disap­pro­val of the mili­ta­ry coup. The­se pro­tests have been peace­ful, small in num­ber and have been over­se­en by the mili­ta­ry sta­tio­ned in the city.
•    Nati­on­wi­de Cur­few (11pm-4am) - The cur­few will now be in effect from 11pm-4am, nati­on­wi­de. Then 25th-28th May to be 12am-4am across 24 pro­vin­ces, most­ly in the north and nor­the­ast of Thai­land. We expect the cur­few to be lifed wit­hin the next 3-4 days, and will keep you updated on that.

For the cur­few, the same app­lies until fur­ther noti­ce - tra­vel­lers are allo­wed to tra­vel free­ly as nee­ded, as are peop­le working night shifts, workers, tho­se working in the avia­ti­on indus­try, peris­ha­ble food logistics, hos­pi­tals, humai­ta­ri­an orga­ni­sa­ti­ons.

Peop­le who hap­pen to have urgent or important errands during the cur­few hours are advi­sed to seek advice from mili­ta­ry offi­cers near their homes.
•    Traf­fic and Public Trans­port - Traf­fic, as of this morning, is moving free­ly throughout Bang­kok with see­min­gly fewer than usu­al cars on the road.

All roads whe­re demons­tra­ti­ons had been sta­ged and pro­tes­ters had been cam­ped which were tem­pora­ri­ly clo­sed yes­ter­day due to cleanup ope­ra­ti­ons have now all been ope­ned again.

The BTS Sky­train and MRT Sub­way will ope­ra­te as nor­mal during the day, but will stop ser­vices at 9pm for the dura­ti­on of the cur­few. Howe­ver, BTS and MRT urge all tho­se tra­vel­ling with the trans­port net­works not to show up at 9pm in order to catch the last trains, as long queu­es are to be expec­ted.
•    Public Pla­ces and Busi­nes­ses - Are open as nor­mal, howe­ver, most will have adjus­ted ope­ning and clo­sing times in line with cur­few hours, with some busi­nes­ses even opting out of ope­ning altog­e­ther.

Anyo­ne plan­ning any visits any­whe­re is obvious­ly advi­sed to check in advan­ce for any chan­ges to ope­ning and clo­sing times.
•    Air­ports and Trans­fers - Air­ports are open as usu­al and can also con­firm that our trans­fer ser­vices are still ope­ra­ting as nor­mal. The army has been quo­ted as say­ing it will pro­vi­de secu­ri­ty to for­eig­ners, inclu­ding vaca­tio­ners who need to move around, even during cur­few hours.
•    Asia World Sight­see­ing Tours - Are still ope­ra­ting as nor­mal during the day with cli­ents on evening tours being trans­fer­red direc­t­ly to their hotels after­wards wit­hout any issu­es.

We need to advi­se, howe­ver, that some attrac­tions will have opted to clo­se ear­ly to allow their staff time to tra­vel home. On the other hand, some attrac­tions may have deci­ded to cea­se ope­ra­ti­ons until the curew has been lifted.

In Bang­kok for instan­ce, the Calyp­so Caba­ret Show, one of the more popu­lar attrac­tions in Bang­kok, will have 1 show in the evening until fur­ther noti­ce bet­ween 19.30 to 20.30 only. Else­whe­re, the Boxing Sta­di­um will be clo­sed until the cur­few has been lifted.
The­re have been few chan­ges in the sin­ce the coup was announ­ced, we encou­ra­ge all tra­vel­lers to go about their plan­ned activi­ties as nor­mal as pos­si­ble given the limi­ta­ti­ons in place at the moment. Despi­te the dra­ma­tic appearan­ce on the sur­face of this it is still very safe here in Thai­land.