Tanks were seen on the streets of Thailand yesterday just days after former leader Thaksin Shinawatra tried to make a political comeback.

Thaksin last week reportedly recruited Princess Ubolratana to head his party.

With the much-loved actress bidding to be the next PM, it could have allowed popular Shinawatra to return to his homeland and smashed the army’s five-year grip over the southeast Asia country.

Fears of a possible third military coup since 2006 - just weeks from a planned election on March 24 - were reignited again after tanks were said to have been deployed and army supremos were dispatched to Munich where the King lives.

The hashtag #ThaiCoup was trending on Twitter with thousands of the country's young liberals fearing a brutal crackdown.

Footage of the green military vehicles show them driving down a motorway on the outskirts of Bangkok - but army chiefs said it was just a ''training exercise.'
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Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University and expert in Thai politics, said that ''when the military starts publicly insisting that no coup is coming, this is often a sign that they are about to seize power again."

Speaking of Thaksin's attempt to return to an active role in politics, MacGregor said: '''This was an extraordinary strategic blunder by Thaksin, who once again has wildly miscalculated, due to his eagerness to defeat his political enemies and return to Thailand.

''Thaksin and Ubolratana meet regularly when they are both in London, and the princess was also photographed with Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra at the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

''According to several sources, relations between Ubolratana and Vajiralongkorn cooled since the death of their father King Bhumibol in 2016.

''[The King] also berated her after the photographs from the World Cup with Thaksin and Yingluck circulated online.

''By taking it for granted that Ubolratana had get Vajiralongkorn on board, and that nobody would dare block her standing for prime minister, Thaksin made a disastrous mistake.''

Tanks were seen on the streets of Thailand yesterday in a feared military coup just days after the exiled former Man City owner tried to make a political comeback.

Thaksin Shinawatra - who once signed manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and striker Geovanni - last week recruited the Thai king’s glamorous older sister Ubol Ratana to head his party.

With the popular actress bidding to be the next PM, it would have allowed Shinawatra to return to his homeland and smashed the army’s five year grip over the South East Asia country.

But furious King Vajiralongkorn blocked the move.

Fears of the third military coup since 2006 - just weeks from a planned election on March 24 - were reignited again after tanks were said to have been deployed and army supremos were dispatched to Munich where the King lives.

The hashtag 'ThaiCoup' was trending on Twitter with thousands of the country's young liberals fearing a crackdown.

Footage of the green military vehicles show them driving down a motorway on the outskirts of Bangkok - but army chiefs said it was just a ''training exercise'' .