A leading critic of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ended a marathon anti-government rally early yesterday, telling thousands of supporters they had achieved victory in their fight to oust the premier over allegations of corruption and shady business dealings.
"Politically, we have killed Thaksin," publisher and protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul told the crowd, which had dwindled to about 12,000 weary protesters by the time the rally was called off at 8am.
"We have successfully organized this protest that was held peacefully and without any incidents," Sondhi said, adding another rally will be held on Feb. 11.
PHOTO: EPA
Police said the rally against Thaksin, which began on Saturday afternoon, had attracted about 60,000 people at its peak, though some local newspapers put the crowd at 100,000. It appeared to be Thailand's biggest political protest since 1992, when demonstrations toppled a military-backed government.
Some observers said the huge turnout should compel Thaksin to address allegations of widespread government corruption and his own ethical lapses.
"The fact that tens of thousands of people turned out to protest and shout slogans against Thaksin should unnerve him," said Vuthiphong Priebjrivat, a lecturer at several private universities. "Thaksin needs to be aware now that the stability of his government has been shaken."
During the rally, Information and Communication Technology Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom resigned without giving a reason. His resignation came a day after Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong stepped down, saying her decision was based on the need to uphold good governance.
But the government insisted the rally and the resignations would little affect the prime minister. The ministers were expected to be replaced anyway in an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle.
Some analysts have said rallies limited to the capital, Bangkok, wouldn't threaten Thaksin's government as long as they didn't spread to his rural base, where voters are concerned less with issues of corruption than with bread-and-butter issues like jobs and the price of daily goods.
"The protest has put serious pressure on the government," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "But it has not reached the point where the government will collapse."
Sondhi, a former supporter of the prime minister, has been holding rallies almost weekly in the capital, accusing the government of widespread corruption and abuse of power.
But this weekend's rally was Sondhi's biggest so far, with teachers, students and business people joined by throngs of curious onlookers. Sondhi led the crowd in chants of "Thaksin Get Out, Thaksin Get Out."
Protesters, who mostly filled the Royal Plaza near Parliament and the Royal Palace, said they had grown tired of Thaksin's arrogant attitude, his disdain for the press and perceived disrespect for the monarchy.
The rally got a boost after the prime minister's family sold its controlling interest in Shin Corp, a telecommunications conglomerate, to a Singaporean government company for 73.3 billion baht (US$1.9 billion).
The deal drew outrage, mainly because it was structured to allow the sellers -- Thaksin's children -- to avoid paying any taxes, and placed important national assets in the hands of foreigners.
‘ABSURD MISTAKE’: The election commission said that there had been a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations ran short of ballot papers South Korean riot police yesterday cleared protesters from a Seoul polling station after a 35-hour blockade sparked by a shortage of ballot papers during local elections earlier this week. Wednesday’s election was the first nationwide vote since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office following the ouster of Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration. Lee’s ruling Democratic Party swept most races, but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat. The South Korean National Election Commission apologized, blaming a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations in Seoul ran short of ballot papers. Some polling stations stayed open until 10pm to
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
A Sherpa guide was found crawling to base camp on Mount Everest a week after he went missing and was reunited with his family, who had given up hope he would return. Dawa Sherpa was last seen on Friday last week descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled. Dawa was located by a cleaning crew on Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above
Chinese authorities are snuffing out any remembrance of the deadly 1989 military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, which happened 37 years ago yesterday, in a further tightening of a years-long campaign to erase what happened from public memory. Police told relatives of the victims they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing on the anniversary of the crackdown, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Relatives of the victims visited the cemetery on the anniversary for more than 30 years to read memorial statements with police keeping watch, Amnesty International said. Hundreds of people,
RSS