The Hong Kong government raised the travel alert for Thailand to red in the wake of the coup, warning visitors to Thailand to adjust their travel plans and avoid non-essential travel to the country.

Hours after announcing the coup, Thai military officials ordered protesters from rival political groups on the streets of Bangkok to go home and said the military would provide transport. Deputy army spokesman Winthai Suvaree gave the order in a televised statement after the army said it was taking control of the government following months of political turmoil.

Pro-government “red shirts” had mostly vacated their rally site on the western outskirts of the capital by thursday night but rival anti-government protesters did not appear to leaving their central Bangkok rally site in large numbers.

On Thursday night, the army also banned gatherings of more than five people, warning people that anyone who violates this "could be liable to not less than one year in prison."

The army also told acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan and his ministers to report to a military compound in the north of Bangkok on Thursday evening. Deputy Army Spokesman Winthai Suvaree issued the order in a televised statement hours on Thursday evening. 

Thailand’s army chief, Prayuth Chan-ocha, will head the military council that is now in charge of the country, the spokesman said.

Winthai Suvaree said the constitution was being suspended but the Senate upper house and all courts would continue to function.

Earlier on Thursday army leaders in Bangkok declared a night-time curfew across the country and ordered all radio and TV to suspend normal programmes

“Under martial law, the National Peace Keeping Committee prohibits anyone across the kingdom from leaving their home from 10 pm to 5am,” an army  spokesman said in a televised announcement.

Television and radio stations were ordered to suspend their usual programmes and show only  the army’s broadcasts in the wake of the coup. The move was to ensure the release of “accurate news to the people,” an army spokesman said in a televised announcement.

The broadcast came shortly after soldiers took the leader of anti-government protests, Suthep Thaugsuban, out of the meeting that was aimed at finding a solution to a drawn-out power struggle that has polarised the country and battered its economy.

The crisis is the latest instalment in a long battle between supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and opponents backed by the royalist establishment.

The army had declared martial law on Tuesday, saying the measure was necessary to prevent violence, but it rejected accusations the measure amounted to a coup.

Prayuth had called on the two sides in a first round of talks on Wednesday to agree on a compromise that would have hinged around the appointment of an interim prime minister, political reforms and the timing of an election.

Wednesday’s talks ended inconclusively with neither side backing down from their entrenched positions, participants said.

The army had let rival protesters remain on the streets but it banned them from marching to prevent clashes. It has also clamped down on the media, including partisan television channels, and warned people not to spread inflammatory material on social media.

After the coup announcement, a senior army official said troops would escort protests away from their rally sites.

Leaders of the ruling Puea Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party, the Senate leader and the five-member Election Commission had joined the second round of talks at an army base in Bangkok.

Acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan told reporters before the talks that his government could not resign as its enemies were demanding as that would contravene the constitution.

“The government wants the problem solved in a democratic way which includes a government that comes from elections,” he said.

Government officials were not available for comment after the coup announcement.

Former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin has lived in self-exile since 2008 to avoid a jail term for graft, but still commands the loyalty of legions of rural and urban poor and exerts a huge influence over politics, most recently through a government run by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck was forced to step down as premier by a court two weeks ago, but her caretaker government remains nominally in power, despite the declaration of martial law and six months of sometimes violent protests aimed at ousting it.

Thailand’s gross domestic product contracted 2.1 per cent in January-March from the previous three months, largely because of the unrest, adding to fears it is stumbling into recession.

The protesters say Thaksin is a corrupt crony capitalist who commandeered Thailand’s fragile democracy, using taxpayers’ money to buy votes with populist giveaways.

They wanted a “neutral” interim prime minister to oversee electoral reforms aimed at ridding the country of the Shinawatra family’s political influence before any new vote.

The government and its supporters said a general election that it would likely win was the best way forward and it had proposed polls on Aug. 3, to be followed by reforms.

Earlier on Thursday, anti-government protest leader Suthep, a former deputy prime minister in a government run by the pro-establishment Democrat Party, told his supporters victory was imminent.

Thaksin’s red shirt loyalists, rallying in Bangkok’s outskirts, had warned of violence if the caretaker government is thrown out.

Twenty-eight people have been killed and 700 injured since this latest chapter in the power struggle between Thaksin and the royalist elite flared up late last year.