22/05/2014 BBC World News

You are watching BBC World News. The Army has taken control of Thailand.

31 people are killed in an attack on the market in China. Violence has

again flared up in the East of Ukraine. California police have

arrested a man on suspicion of kidnap, rape and false imprisonment

of a woman who says she was forced into marriage.

We will begin this bulletin with breaking news, because there has

been a military coup in Thailand. It was confirmed within the past few

minutes, was confirmed within the past few

Tell us more. Yes, I am at the Army club, where we have had, tick scenes

in the last hour or so. Talks have been going on between the political

parties and the various demonstrating

parties and the various Bangkok. Those talks came to an end

in what were fairly chaotic scenes, as the military tried to exert their

control over this compound, locking various entrances and exits. The

protest leaders were taken away in minibuses, surrounded by soldiers.

It is not clear where there have gone. Blocking. We knew that

something had happened but it was not clear what. Then came the

announcement on Thai television, across all of the free channels, at

the army had taken full across all of the free channels, at

power. We have been expecting this over the past couple of days,

power. We have been expecting this it is perhaps a surprise

power. We have been expecting this changed very quickly

power. We have been expecting this of days ago, when the Army insisted

power. We have been expecting this that the imposition of martial law

was so, that the imposition of martial law

achieve? Well, the Army that the imposition of martial law

is doing it to guarantee peace and stability in the country,

is doing it to guarantee peace and by doing this could they exert that

control. Their calculation is that they simply could not bring the two

sides together, and they would have to impose some kind of solutions.

But this is likely not to be the end of things. All of

But this is likely not to be the end voted for the elected government,

the redshirt movement and their supporters,

the redshirt movement and their not take this lying down. We have

already had some suggestions that they are going to gather their

forces together and perhaps they are going to gather their

rally in Bangkok. It is very fluid, it has only happened in the last

hour or so, but I think most people believe this will lead to more

tension and quite possibly more confrontation. Would you expect more

arrests TEC also, tell us leader of the anti-government

protest movement is it possible to confirm yet whether he has been

arrested? I cannot tell you what has happened to any of the protest

leaders. Whether he has been taken away for his own safety, or he has

been detained, we do not know. We simply cannot confirm anything. It

would be surprising if they had arrested him, as, broadly speaking,

his movement is regarded as having a good relationship with the Thai

military. It would be more likely that they would be arresting

somebody from the other side, rather than Suthep Thaugsuban. This will be

the 12th military coup here, and I think people are now bracing

themselves for what could we are very angry reaction from the red

shirts. What about the overall population, who do not necessarily

have those very strong feelings towards either pro or

anti-government, what would their reaction be? It is hard to say.

There are not a huge amount of neutrals here in Thailand at the

moment. People over the years have had to take quite a strong political

position. This is quite a polarised society in many ways. But obviously,

the possibility of violence and unrest will be of deep concern to

many Thais macro, who might have hoped that this martial law

imposition would be a way out. But that has not come to pass. In fact,

the Army has simply decided to dispense with all the consultation

and take control. Is it not also in part to blame the Army for the

instability in Thailand? Every country that has this continual

history of short-term democracy, interrupted by a military coup, and

then the same again, it does not lead to long-term stability? That's

right. The Army is without doubt the strongest political force here in

Thailand, it is just a question of when and where they decided to exert

that power. Over the last couple of years we have had Yingluck

Shinawatra in power with her government, she was removed a couple

of weeks ago. But throughout her time, she could not really: The Army

to restore order. The Army could have intervened at various points

when this anti-government movement was marching through Bangkok,

seizing government buildings, holding huge rallies, but they did

not do so, they chose not to step in to support the elected government.

They stepped in when they felt that the unrest, or the violence which

was linked to some of these protests, had gone too far. Now,

they have declared that they have taken over full control. We will

have to wait and see what they map out as to where we go from now. It

could be a couple of years of rewriting the constitution and the

political system, ahead of elections. That is what the

anti-government demonstrators have wanted over the last few months. One

would imagine they would have restructured the political system in

a way which gives them more power. Do you possibly see this as the

beginning of the end of the Shinawatra political dynasty and the

party which that family essentially controls? Anyone there? I am not

sure if Jonah can hear us. Has the line dropped... ? He clearly cannot

hear us. Just a reminder that in the past 15 minutes or so, the army

chief in Thailand has appeared on television to say that the Army is

taking control of Thailand. In Ukraine, reports say at least 12

people have been killed in clashes with pro-Russian separatists in the

east of the country. Journalists working for the AP newsagency say

they counted 11 bodies. They also saw three burned-out Ukrainian

armoured personnel carriers. In a separate incident, one colder was

killed -- one soldier was killed and two were injured. I asked our

correspondent when these latest attacks happened? One attack

happened early in the morning in a village which had not been near the

centre of the recent violence. There was a checkpoint and it was attacked

by pro separatist militants. Several armoured personnel carriers were

destroyed, with a big loss of life due to the munitions exploded during

the attack. According to the security chief, there were four

attacks overnight, and one is still ongoing. So it all intensified very

seriously. As you say, this is all because of the upcoming presidential

elections, which the separatists have vowed not to hold in those

areas which they claim under their control. And Kiev insists the

elections will go ahead, so, for those soldiers who are there to make

sure the ballot can be accessed except... ? This is part of the

reason why they are there. According to the latest information, a third

of the polling stations are under control of the separatists, but two

thirds can be operational. Whether people will be brave enough to come

out and vote... According to our correspondence on the ground, many

want to exercise their right and vote, but many will be certainly

intimidated. In places like Sloviansk, people will be afraid to

come out and exercise their right. NATO has said that there is some

sort of Russian troop movement going on among those troops on the

Ukrainian border, that it could signify may be the start of their

withdrawal - would this kind of incident be the thing which keeps

them there? On the one hand a withdrawal has been reported, at

least it has started. But on the other hand, the leader of the

separatists in one region for example has asked President Putin

today to send in peacekeepers. And the Ukrainian acting Prime Minister

has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council. Roasting

we can go back to our correspondent in Bangkok. I have seen you on the

phone in the past 20 minutes or so, have you got any information of

troop movements around the rest of Bangkok? Nothing that I can confirm

to you. There has been some suggestion that the soldiers might

be moving to the different protest sites to disperse them, but I cannot

confirm that to you. That is being one would imagine that might be one

of the first things the Army would do, to try to negate any possibility

of a reaction from the government supporters, the red shirts, on the

outskirts of Bangkok. And what about former Prime Minister Yingluck

Shinawatra, when she was forced to step down as Prime Minister by a

court decision, but she stay in Bangkok, in Thailand, would she

possibly be a target for arrest by the military? Quite possibly. I

simply do not know the answer to that question. Vino that she did

stay in the country after she was removed from power by a

constitutional court ruling. Quite possibly she is in the north of

Thailand, where her family is particularly strong politically. One

would imagine that all of the leaders in what was the governing

party until very recently might be fearing for their own safety, as

indeed might the leaders of the protest movement. We do not know

exactly what has happened to the leaders of the various protest

movements. It has been reported that they have been detained. We saw some

people getting is gritted away in minibuses, but I cannot confirm that

those people have been detained, they might have just been taken away

for their own safety. Can you confirm to us what is happening

around where you are? This is the Army club, where the talks have been

taking place over the last couple of days. Behind me you can see the

military presence pushed up to this small area where the journalists

have been forced back into. In the last hour or so, they moved to

consolidate a military presence in the compound, blocking the entry and

exit with military trucks. There was considerable chaos around the site.

And then those minibuses came out, the atmosphere completely changed.

We knew something was up at that point. Then the television stations

went off air, and shortly afterwards it was confirmed what many of us

suspected when we saw the chaos and confusion, that talks had ended and

that a military coup was about to be declared. The general who we are

watching now in his recent TV address, saying that he is taking

over the government - he says he wants to restore order and push

through reforms, that is a nice, convenient, open-ended game from

him, but this could take a long time? Yes, and that is exactly what

the anti-government demonstrators have been calling for the last six

or seven months as well - reform, some change to the political system.

The red shirts have said, well, fine, but let's do it in a

democratic way, let's have elections, and then we can do

reforms within that framework. But obviously, the PDR see, the

anti-government movement, did not want that, they wanted and appointed

government, and then at some point a further down the line, possibly,

elections. But talk of reforms, well, I think many people will see

that as really singing the tune of what the anti-government

demonstrators have been saying for the last several months - reforms

with what end in mind? Effectively, the anti-government movement seems

to want reforms which destroy the opposition party, destroy their

sources of funding, trying to effectively make a system in which

the elite groups in Thailand, the PDRC, at least has a chance of

retaining substantial amounts of power after the election. Every time

there has been an election over the last ten years or so, the party

broadly aligned with the elites in Bangkok has lost. That is why talk

of reforms often in this context means reforms which will reduce the

power of the democratic process, in a way, and put more power in

institutions such as a constitutional court or a partially

unelected Senate. When you look at Thailand's recent history of

military coups, can the country expect some sort of stability? I

think most people, when they heard this news, that the military had

decided to take control, did not think, oh, good, that means

stability. I think they thought, gosh, this means it is likely that

we will be in for some serious trouble. Almost everybody thinks

that the military taking full power will lead to the redshirt movement

mobilising, trying to reassure it what they see as their democratic

right to choose a government through the ballot box. It is likely that

they at this very moment will be talking about mobilising and

returning to street demonstrations. If you look around me at the

military presence, and if the military is determined to stop those

demonstrations, that could mean bloody conflict.

Police in China say 31 people have been killed

Details are still emerging,but Chinese media reports say two

off-road vehicles were driven into a crowded market,

The attack happened in the west of the country in Xinjiang,

in the centre of its capital Urumqi, where the open air market was taking

It appears to be part of a campaign by militant Uighur separatists

In response, officials have announced new security measures

Our correspondent in Beijing, Celia Hatton, has more

He is calling for an investigation into the attack to be solved very

quickly. He is calling for the attack is to be punished and

crucially, he is calling for security to be tightened further in

the Xinjiang region. This leads to a pattern which appears to be

continuing over the past few years. We have seen some violent incident

between the Uighur minority living in Xinjiang, many of whom are upset

with what they see as the cultural and economic domination of Han

Chinese migrants who are moving into the area. We have seen a security

crackdown on the Uighur population by the Chinese authorities. It often

involves some kind of religious suppression and then we see another

attack. Today's attack is the latest in this pattern. You have mentioned

security needs to be tightened. What else is the government doing to try

to quell the uprising? It has been using various methods to try to

crack down on Uighurs. It recently announced that ten thousands of

Chinese officials will be moving into villages all across the region.

It is not simply heavy-handed security tactics. However, we are

seeing security tightened over and over again. China's top security

chief is flying to Xinjiang now to oversee the investigation. Really,

the first response from the Chinese government today was to announce

tightened security measures. Thank you.

A 25-year-old woman reported missing a decade ago, has told police she

was drugged and kidnapped from the family home at the age of 15.

The woman, who's originally from Mexico, has just been reunited with

But police have arrested this man, 41-year-old Isidro Garcia,

on suspicion of kidnap, rape and false imprisonment.

Alastair Leithead reports from Santa Ana.

Neighbours knew the couple as Laura and Thomas but no one suspected

their grim secret. It was the latest town and the latest identity in ten

years that police said the girl, kidnapped as a teenager, had been

forced to macro she was forced to marry and bear a child. Ten years

ago Isidro Garcia lived here with his girlfriend and child. Police

allege after beating her up he kidnapped the child. He changed

their name, usually the middle name, he had control of her life. But then

she walked into a police station to tell her story. After connecting

with her sister on Facebook and finding that the family had not

abandoned her. We are not releasing the woman's identity but this is a

picture of her with her baby taken by a neighbour. This is the couple

in church. They were well-known in the neighbourhood as a normal

couple. She did not the neighbourhood as a normal

someone who was under pressure being held against her will. And being

almost 25, she had a sense of, I can escape if I want to. She was not

kept on watch 24/7. It is a little weird to think she did it. she would

step out, have conversations, she always goes back inside her house as

if he does not let her socialise. They act like a normal couple and

they kiss in front of people. It is all weird and crazy to me. She

clearly was not being held captive in this top floor apartment. The

neighbours knew them as the couple and even went to the house for

parties. She contacted her sister on Facebook. She walked into the police

station to tell her own story. Clearly, the man who helped her had

a real power and control over her for ten years.

We will return to Thailand in a moment but first we have some

breaking news coming out of South Korea. It concerns a North Korean

ship which is reported to have fired in disputed waters near the South

Korean warships. This is confirmed by a Joint Chiefs of Staff Officer

in South Korea. This officer is saying the North Korean ship fired

artillery towards the South Korean navy ship which was engaged in a

routine patrol mission. Significantly, another agency

reported the South Korean military had returned fire but this official

could not confirm that aspect. A North Korean ship has fired. We will

bring you more later. Now we can talk more about Thailand.

This is undoubtedly a coup, the army says it has taken control of the

government. says it has taken control of the

really. When the army took martial law, they said they were doing it so

that the rivals could come together in peace, without being worried

about demonstrators, so they could resolve their differences Thomas

said the country could return to normality. You have got to rumba,

these two broad political factions have been arguing basically for the

last eight years or so. They have not been able to come to any

conclusion. There has been turmoil and unrest throughout that period.

It was unlikely that in a short period of time, they would be able

to compromise and resolve their differences. Not many people would

be surprised that the army has said after a couple of meetings, these

talks have failed. The army has said in is enough, we will take control

of the government. Do you think the army will be able to suppress the

anger of the pro-government demonstrators who have been out on

the streets? It has been reported that the soldiers have already fired

into the air near where the pro-government supporters have

gathered in Bangkok. Will it turn more violent than it has already in

the demonstrations between pro-and anti-government demonstrators?

the demonstrations between pro-and anti-government That is certainly a

possibility. One of the first things the army announced was they were

sending troops to protest areas. There were two basic areas, one in

central Bangkok where the anti-government protesters are based

and one outside of Bangkok where the pro-government protesters are. The

army said it was sending troops to break up those protest camps.

Obviously, it fears that large number of protesters gathered

together could lead to some kind of violence and it wants to break those

up. It is definitely a real possibility. Isn't one of the

problems the self-interest in the two sides of this political debate

are just so polarised and those interests are so entrenched on the

two sides, that an army coup is not going to change that? That is

exactly the case. The outlook looks pretty bleak. These broad alliances

have been arguing. On one side, there was a pro government party. It

holds great support in the north and east of Thailand. It is popular

among poorer people. It has given various projects to help them if

their lifestyles and give them more money. They are posed by the elite

in Bangkok, people who have perhaps done better out of Thailand's

economic growth over the last couple of decades. The position between

these two are so wide that it is difficult to see how they can come

together and it is difficult to see how the army can impose some kind of

agreement -- solution without agreement. Thank you for coming in.

That is it from us. We will keep you right up to date with this military

coup in Thailand which is a very developing story, the announcement

coming in the last half-hour or so from the Chief of Thailand's army.

Goodbye.