Tens of thousands of protesters seeking Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's ouster descended on Bangkok's busiest shopping district yesterday, disrupting business and causing massive traffic jams in the heart of the capital.
About 20,000 demonstrators swarmed the street outside the posh Siam Paragon shopping mall, which was closed in anticipation of the protest, said Colonel Pinit Maneerat, spokesman for Bangkok's Metropolitan Police.
Demonstrators parked giant trucks in front of the mall, which claims to be the biggest in Southeast Asia and sits at one of the busiest junctions in the city, as police diverted traffic.
PHOTO: EPA
Organizers, taking their protests against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra downtown after weeks of rallies elsewhere in the city, planned to use the trucks as a stage to address the crowd later in the evening.
Draped across the side of the mall hung a banner that read: "Thak, your time is up."
Traffic ground to a standstill for kilometers on a major road near the protest, as the city's public transport system added trains to the service to help the many commuters who decided to avoid driving downtown.
Protest leader Chamlong Srimuang said demonstrators would spend at least two nights on the street outside the mall, where police have warned that they could be jailed for disrupting traffic on already clogged streets.
`Prosecute us'
"Police can go ahead and arrest and prosecute us," he said before the rally got under way.
Justice Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya had threatened to file criminal defamation charges against five protest leaders if they proceeded with the latest protest.
Thaksin, who was in his home town of Chiang Mai for religious services, said he had canceled his own rally for tomorrow evening in a downtown park to avoid any clashes with the protesters.
"Their move to Siam Paragon is an attempt by protest leaders to incite violence, but government will still be open for political reforms after the election," he said.
Thaksin called Sunday's election three years early, hoping to win another mandate and to end protests that intensified last month over his family's US$1.9 billion tax-free stock sale.
Demonstrators accuse him of corruption and abuse of power.
The self-made billionaire, who remains hugely popular in poor rural areas, is expected to win the vote -- but opposition parties are boycotting the polls, meaning he still may not be able to govern.
The election commission has warned that the vote probably would not fill all 500 seats in parliament as required by law to confirm a new prime minister.
Promise
Thaksin has insisted that the polls should go ahead and has styled the election as a referendum on his rule. He has promised not to take office if he wins less than 50 percent of the vote.
The main support for protesters has come from the middle class in Bangkok, but a poll on Tuesday indicated that moving the rallies into the center of the capital could cost the demonstrators support.
"The protesters think moving to a new location is worth the risk even though police say it will make the public unhappy because of the traffic jam," political analyst Siripan Nogsuan said.
The demonstration in a major commercial district marks the first time that the rallies will have had a serious impact on the capital's businesses.
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