BANGKOK – Thailand’s new military government strongly denied the existence of anti-coup protests, suggesting that any civil disturbances being witnessed were just large groups of Chinese tourists.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference yesterday, General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), explained that incidents at Rajprasong and Victory Monument over the weekend were being misreported as protests.
“It is our understanding that in both situations, people from China visiting Thailand were lost, and became agitated,” he explained. “The presence of soldiers and police were only there to assist these guests of our kingdom.”
According to the NCPO chief, mainland Chinese were by nature both very loud and demanding, and that their natural ways of expressing basic requests might appear, to untrained eyes, like angry citizens demanding their civil rights.
“Most just wanted directions to Gaysorn Plaza,” he said of Saturday’s crowd at Rajprasong. “And some were upset that the McDonald’s toilet was too small and had long a queue.”
Additionally, he added, it was very common for Chinese people to travel in large groups, take over entire restaurants without consideration of other patrons, and block traffic needlessly on busy streets.
When asked about the presence of foreign press covering the incidents, Prayuth reminded Thai reporters that the foreign press had ill intentions against Thailand’s national unity, and that they could not be trusted to tell the truth about anything happening in Bangkok.
“Thais are united in their support of our re-establishment of peace and order, and any reports that suggest otherwise are incorrect and of questionable motive,” he said. “This is why we have suspended foreign news broadcasts, to protect you from confusion that may be caused by this bad information.”
Asked why Chinese tourists would be holding up signs, the general suggested that the language barrier might have required them to ask for help in written English. Regarding several physical altercations that broke out between the tourists and the police, he insisted that “that’s just how Chinese people talk to each other.”
Prayuth assured everyone that the Chinese tourists had all been successfully assisted by soldiers in their needs, that their leaders had been personally escorted to places where they could be assisted in more substantial and permanent ways, and that no further incidents were expected.
