Thailand tightened security yesterday after two grenades exploded outside branches of the country’s biggest bank in a suspected reaction to a court verdict against deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The blasts late on Saturday targeted branches of Bangkok Bank, causing damage but no casualties, and came just over a week after Thaksin supporters protested at the bank’s headquarters over its alleged links to the coup that ousted him.
They said the bank has links to chief royal adviser and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda, whom they accuse of masterminding the 2006 coup against Thaksin.
PHOTO: AFP
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he had asked troops to help provide extra security across the country following the attacks, but said he had not enacted harsh security laws as the government had earlier threatened.
“The bomb incidents were expected after the verdict. They are the actions of a small group of people who want to create unrest,” Abhisit said in his weekly TV broadcast.
Thailand’s Supreme Court on Friday confiscated US$1.4 billion of Thaksin’s fortune for abuse of power while he was in office between 2001 and 2006.
The ousted leader is now living in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for graft.
Abhisit said police and soldiers were monitoring at checkpoints and that the government would install more CCTV cameras.
“Our society is in a challenging situation right now,” he said.
The first blast hit a branch in the Silom business district, shattering windows and doors, while the second caused similar damage and also wrecked telephone booths in Samut Prakarn on the outskirts of the capital, police said.
Another two unexploded grenades were defused at Bangkok Bank branches at around the same time, police spokesman Major General Piya Uthay said.
Thaksin and his supporters, known as the “Red Shirts” because of their signature garb, have vowed to fight back against the court verdict, branding it a conspiracy by Thailand’s military, bureaucratic and palace elites.
The Red Shirts have said they will hold a mass rally in Bangkok in the middle of this month, although they have promised that their campaign against Abhisit’s government will be non-violent.
Thaksin on Saturday rejected calls from the ruling party to leave the political stage, saying he would “not chicken out,” and dismissed its claims that a compromise had been struck by returning a portion of his frozen funds.
Analysts said they believed the ruling was a compromise and that it could ease initial tensions, but that it would not solve the simmering conflict between Thaksin’s supporters and foes.
KING’S OUTING
King Bhumibol Adulyadej briefly left the hospital where he has been treated for the past five months to make a late-night visit to Chitralada Palace, an official said yesterday.
It was the first time the 82-year-old monarch has left Siriraj Hospital since he was hospitalized on Sept. 19 with fatigue and loss of appetite.
Bhumibol left for Chitralada Palace at about 9pm on Saturday night on “personal” business and returned to the hospital at 1am yesterday, a palace official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release information, did not explain the nature of the personal business.
However, she said there would be no official announcement because the visit was regarded as part of the king’s personal affairs.
Hospital officials said they could not comment.
Television footage showed the king, wearing a pink shirt, in his wheelchair viewing the river in front of the hospital, paying homage to a statue of Buddha and being driven to the palace in a motorcade.
The palace has said Bhumibol is recovering from a lung inflammation.
He has made a handful of public appearances at the hospital, but this is the first time he has left its premises.
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