THAILAND: Sumpit Trinarong could not wipe a broad grin off her face, however hard she tried. "This is my happiest day of the last five years," she said as she handed a long-stemmed red rose to one of the dozen heavily armed soldiers on duty outside the army headquarters in Bangkok.
"[ Prime minister] Thaksin [ Shinawatra] has been ruining the country for years. Since there appeared no way to get rid of him, I am relieved the army has stepped in."
Ms Sumpit was in a small crowd outside the army headquarters in Bangkok. They were there to express their support for the generals under army commander Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who seized power on Monday night in a bloodless coup while Mr Thaksin was in New York attending the United Nations general assembly.
Some people handed out food and water to the soldiers while the others watched, cheered and took photos. Most wore yellow shirts to show their loyalty to the deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. A few tourists were spotted taking holiday snaps. "My mum is worried about me being here but look, it's more of a party than a revolution," said Brian Dawes (21), a student from Southampton in England.
As a celebration it was pretty low-key, but so was the coup. By yesterday evening some of the tanks were starting to be withdrawn, a sign of just how confident the military is of the success of its putsch.
Gen Sondhi did not bother to enforce a curfew, although the number of people on the streets last night was much lower than usual. The scenes of revelry were confined to the few government offices, military bases and road intersections where soldiers were on guard.
Most of the rest of the capital was quiet as the coup leaders, calling themselves the Administrative Reform Council, had declared a holiday for government offices, banks and schools.
Traffic flowed smoothly along Bangkok's usually gridlocked roads, with most businesses and shops staying open as usual.
Reaction to the coup was far from universally positive, however. Thailand has become increasingly polarised, between the urban middle-class elite and the rural poor, since Mr Thaksin came to power in 2001.
A group of activists, including a former MP from Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, Thawee Kraikupti, staged a protest at the capital's democracy monument, unfurling a banner that read "Fasting in Protest Against the Destroyer of Democracy", before soldiers bundled them away in a van. And outside the army headquarters a group of about two dozen Thaksin supporters clashed with an anti-Thaksin crowd. Soldiers intervened and sent the Thaksin supporters away.
Thaksin loyalists otherwise kept themselves to themselves. "This is very very bad," said taxi driver Somchai. "It's not democracy. It's mob rule. Why can't they be good losers and accept Mr Thaksin's popularity?"
Mr Thaksin won the 2005 general election by a landslide but many of his opponents consider it an illegitimate victory because of the way he had manipulated political institutions, like the senate and, through it, the election commission, for his own benefit.
Mr Somchai admitted, however, there was little the likes of him could do.
"It seems like it's all over. Our leader is out of the country so we can do nothing and the military is now united. Let's just hope when there is another election Thai Rak Thai can win again."
No significant protests were reported yesterday in Mr Thaksin's heartlands, such as in the northern city of Chiang Mai. "We briefly saw a few truckloads of soldiers in the streets but otherwise it has been quiet," said one resident, who asked not to be named.