Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra demanded yesterday that the coup leaders who drove him out resign, and called for elections to be held immediately.
The demands, delivered in a letter to military headquarters, came a day after several thousand Thaksin supporters gathered at Sanam Luang, an open park near Bangkok's Grand Palace.
Daily rallies by Thaksin supporters have increased the risk of confrontation between them and the military leaders who overthrew him in September for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
"We want the Council for National Security [the coup leaders' official name] members to resign and hold an election immediately," said Weng Tojirakan, one of the nine rally leaders who submitted the demand letter.
A low-ranking official received the document through a chained front gate of the army headquarters.
There was no immediate response from the military-backed government, although coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said last week he will not resign because he has done nothing wrong.
The protest leaders also demanded that elections take place in accordance with the 1997 Constitution that the coup leaders abolished after the takeover in September. A new constitution is being drafted ahead of the elections set for December.
The demands are the latest effort by pro-Thaksin forces to increase pressure on coup leaders -- putting Bangkok on edge as the capital swirls with rumors of more military crackdowns and coup attempts.
On Friday night, thousands of Thaksin's supporters gathered at Sanam Luang to witness him berating the coup leaders in a recorded video message from London, where he has been living in exile since the coup.
Thaksin denounced the government's decision to freeze his and his family's bank accounts, with more than 52 billion baht (US$1.6 billion).
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
The dramatic US operation that deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro this month might have left North Korean leader Kim Jong-un feeling he was also vulnerable to “decapitation,” a former Pyongyang envoy to Havana said. Lee Il-kyu — who served as Pyongyang’s political counselor in Cuba from 2019 until 2023 — said that Washington’s lightning extraction in Caracas was a worst-case scenario for his former boss. “Kim must have felt that a so-called decapitation operation is actually possible,” said Lee, who now works for a state-backed think tank in Seoul. North Korea’s leadership has long accused Washington of seeking to remove it from power
RSS