Defiant protesters scuffled with police yesterday as tensions flared on day four of the Bangkok government compound siege, but Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej kept his vow not to use violence to end the crisis.
Thousands of protesters have barricaded themselves in the government complex, accusing Samak of being a figurehead for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and insisting he must step down.
Demonstrators overnight managed to expel about 1,000 police from their protest camp while police said they found a stash of weapons including machetes and golf clubs.
PHOTO: EPA
The campaign also appeared to be broadening, with protests reported in three southern tourist destinations, but Samak said his policy was unchanged.
“Police will still adhere to my earlier order — they merely went to post a court order, not to clear protesters,” he told reporters.
Riot police forced their way back into the grounds of Government House yesterday, while small skirmishes broke out as police used shields and batons to prevent angry mobs from entering the compound.
Thousands of police blocked the entrances to the sprawling compound, but by the afternoon their numbers appeared to be dwindling.
Colonel Noraboon Nanna, a police officer on the scene, earlier said about 13,000 protesters were inside the compound, with 8,000 police surrounding it.
Legal executors tried to enter to post a court injunction ordering the protesters to leave, but the demonstrators blocked them, forcing police to post the order on a lamppost close to the site.
“We have come here to get them to acknowledge the court order,” said the deputy chief of the metropolitan police, Major General Akerach Meepreecha.
“We will wait, we will give them time,” he said, adding: “If there is no reaction, the police will have to do something.”
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has been demonstrating against Samak for months, but events took a turn on Tuesday when protesters barricaded themselves inside the Government House grounds.
The courts have ordered the protesters to leave the site and issued arrest warrants for nine of the ringleaders on charges including rebellion.
But PAD said it would broaden its attack by holding national strikes.
Youdtana Tupcharoen, governor of the State Railways of Thailand, said 248 drivers and mechanics called in sick yesterday, halting of a quarter of all services.
A spokeswoman at the Airports of Thailand (AOT) operator said thousands of PAD sympathizers have blocked airports in the southern holiday destinations of Phuket and Hat Yai, while Thai TV said a similar rally broke out in Krabi.
“Five thousand protesters virtually blocked access to the Phuket International Airport so passengers cannot get in or out,” Monrudee Ketphan said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of