Yingluck Shinawatra BANGKOK, May 24 (agencies): Thailand's military junta said Saturday detained former premier Yingluck Shinawatra and other ousted government leaders would be held for up to a week, tightening its grip following a coup that has provoked an international outcry.
As sporadic protests flared in Bangkok, the military also said the seizure of the government by General Prayut Chan-O-Cha had been "acknowledged" by the country's revered king, while stopping short of calling it a royal endorsement.
Briefing the media for the first time since Prayut deposed the civilian government Thursday after months of escalating political turmoil, the military declined to specify the whereabouts of Yingluck and scores of other prominent detainees, but said they were in no danger.
"They will be detained for up to one week depending on how directly they were involved (in Thailand's political tumult)," army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree told reporters.
In comments to AFP, Lieutenant General Thirachai Nakwanich, head of the military command for central Thailand including Bangkok, added: "(Yingluck) is under detention, and she is fine."
Prayut had submitted a letter to King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the takeover, said a separate military announcement read out later on national television.
The 86-year-old king commands great respect among his subjects, and his blessing is traditionally sought to legitimise Thailand's recurring military takeovers.
Civil liberties have been curbed, media restrictions imposed, most of the constitution abrogated, and rival political protesters cleared from Bangkok's streets.
A night-time curfew has tamed the capital's rowdy night-life, further chilling a vital tourist sector already cooled by the long-term strife.
Yingluck and scores of other figures in the now-deposed government and her Puea Thai party-plus many of their fierce rivals-were called in Friday as the army corralled potential opponents of the coup.
They were taken in under a martial law provision allowing detentions of up to seven days without charge. It was not known whether any charges were being prepared.
Most of those detained appeared to be Puea Thai members or allies.
Political analysts view the coup as part of a long-running effort by a Bangkok-based power elite-aligned with the monarchy and military-to eliminate the political threat of Yingluck's elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra.
Meanwhile: 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 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.
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.
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