Thai anti-government protesters marched in Bangkok yesterday, carrying empty coffins in memory of comrades killed at the weekend, as the country’s worst political violence in 18 years sent the stock market down 5 percent.
Saturday’s fighting, some of it in well-known Bangkok tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in the night. The capital has been calm since then, while authorities ponder whether to renew a potentially bloody crackdown on the month-long protests or make some concession to demands for immediate polls.
The clashes, in which 21 protesters and security personnel died and more than 800 were injured, prompted concern from ratings agencies about Thailand’s credit risk.
The “Red Shirt” protesters, mostly rural and working-class supporters of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, want Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and leave the country.
Thousands of them circled the city on trucks, scooters and “tuk-tuk” taxis, in a defiant mood after the army failed to eject them from one of two Bangkok bases where they have camped out — one in an upscale area, where big malls have had to shut.
“We will continue to rally until Abhisit is no longer prime minister,” Jatuporn Prompan, a Red Shirt leader, told reporters. “We are hearing they will shorten the conditions for the dissolution of parliament from nine months to six or three, but we won’t engage in any negotiations on this.”
The Bangkok Post daily, citing unnamed sources, said Abhisit could dissolve parliament in six months, three months sooner than his most recent proposal. He has to call an election by the end of next year.
The Red Shirts see Abhisit as a front for the establishment elite and military who came to power not through the ballot box but through a parliamentary stitch-up in December 2008 when the courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party.
The military brass is averse to allowing Thaksin’s supporters back into power, but many in the ranks who come from the same social strata as the Red Shirts sympathize with them.
Revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in past crises, has been silent so far. The 82-year-old head of state has been in hospital since September.
Political analysts said the impasse could continue even if new elections were held.
“It is at a point of no return, unless the government dissolves parliament,” said Charnvit Kasertsiri, a prominent political historian and former rector of Thammasat University. “That could cool things off for a bit, but even that won’t mend the rift and fix the fundamental problem of power sharing.”
Bond yields fell as investors bet a central bank interest rate rise would be delayed if political events derailed the economic recovery.
“We believe that damage from the political turmoil over the weekend is significant enough to make the monetary policy committee hold its breath for the policy hike,” said Thammarat Kittisiripat, an economist at Tisco Securities, who now expects a quarter point interest rate increase in June rather than this month.
Risk aversion sent Thailand’s five-year credit default swaps, which insure against debt default, five basis points higher to 105/111 basis points, the most since March 3.
The stock market dropped 5 percent and has now shed the bulk of its gains since the start of the year.
Prapas Tonpibulsak, chief investment officer of Ayudhya Fund Management, expected stocks to fall up to 10 percent in the near term in reaction to the events.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from