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Protesters storm Thai PM’s office and ministries

An anti-government protester holds up a sign in front of Government House in Bangkok yesterday, one of thousands who stormed the grounds of the center of Thai government in a protest led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy. PHOTO: EPA

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej accused protesters who stormed the seat of government yesterday of trying to provoke bloodshed and instigate a military coup.

“They want a spark,” he said, referring to a coalition of anti-government groups that led thousands of people onto the streets of Bangkok yesterday, seized a state-run TV station and stormed several ministries.

“They want bloodshed in the country, they want the military to come out and stage a coup again,” he told a press conference.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has been protesting since May, claims Samak is running the country on behalf of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and is barred from holding office.

“My feeling is it’s a group of people, five or six people, they don’t like the former prime minister, they don’t like me, and up to now they want to overthrow the government, [which is] illegal,” Samak said.

He reminded people he had been comfortably elected in polls in December that returned democracy to Thailand and said he would seek arrest warrants for at least five of the key protest leaders.

“The warrant has to come from the judge,” he said. “We have tape and video evidence.”

Despite saying earlier that police would use “all means” to clear the streets, Samak told reporters that his approach would be “soft and gentle.”

Police will surround Government House, he said, and allow no one to enter until all the protesters have left.

“I have so many ways and means to get rid of this thing, but I think the country has enough problems,” he said.

“Soft and gentle ... [we will] ask them to come out, no weapons,” he said.

Deputy national police spokesman Major General Surapol Tuanthong said they had been gathering evidence against five PAD leaders since May 25, and would seek arrest warrants on charges of illegal assembly and inciting unrest.

“Police will seek arrest warrants on five leaders tomorrow,” he said.

Samak said 85 people had been arrested so far.

The stock market fell as much as 2.5 percent amid fears of violence. It has shed nearly 23 percent since the PAD, a group of monarchist businessmen and academics, launched its campaign to unseat the government on May 25.

PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, speaking on the Government House lawn, vowed to stay until the government fell.

“I won’t leave until there is a political change. If you want me to leave, you will have to kill me and take my body out of here,” he said to thunderous applause from demonstrators.

Earlier, thousands of protesters stormed state broadcaster NBT and parts of the ministries of finance, agriculture and transport, as well as briefly the Bangkok police headquarters.

They later abandoned those sites to reinforce the main protest at Government House amid fears that any violence could trigger a military coup to restore order less than two years after the army removed Thaksin.
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