Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday held landmark talks with anti-government protesters aimed at ending two weeks of street demonstrations.
The red-shirted protesters have staged a series of mass dramatic stunts in their bid to force Abhisit to call snap elections, picketing the army barracks where he is holed up and throwing their own blood at his office gates.
Abhisit addressed the nation early yesterday to rule out being pressured into talks with the “Red Shirts” who support former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but shortly after made an about-face and agreed to the meeting which was broadcast live on television.
He sat flanked by two of his senior staff for the talks, held at a Bangkok educational institute, and told three of his red-shirted opponents that he was not totally opposed to calling an election, which must be held by December next year.
“I never refused it but we have to see whether dissolution of the house will really solve the problem,” Abhisit said, visibly uncomfortable.
The Red Shirts are opposed to Abhisit’s Democrat-led government, accusing it of being undemocratic as it came to power on the back of a parliamentary vote that followed a controversial court ruling ousting Thaksin’s allies from power.
They seek the return of the twice-elected populist Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon, saying that the coup that ousted him in 2006 was illegal.
“We are both at a difficult point to move forward. If you are confident of winning an election, you should return power to the people,” Reds’ leader Jatuporn Prompan told Abhisit.
“Let’s say whether you will dissolve the house or not so we can think what to do next,” he said.
The talks continued into a second hour with no sign of resolution.
Tens of thousands of protesters sat at their rally ground in Bangkok’s government quarter yesterday to watch the televised talks on a giant screen, waving their signature plastic clappers as their leaders spoke.
Political analyst and Thaksin biographer Chris Baker said Abhisit’s decision to enter talks revealed more about the feelings of other establishment figures who back Abhisit.
“How do the military and various other people think they can best manage the situation? ... I think they’re likely to think Abhisit’s quite simply expendable,” he said. “I don’t think these talks will be over so quickly.”
The Reds are riding high after a rally on Saturday that drew 80,000 people and forced troops to retreat from several security posts in the heart of the capital where they have been stationed since the demonstrations began.
The military has mounted a massive security operation involving 50,000 personnel for the demonstrations. A dozen people were injured over the weekend, including four soldiers wounded yesterday when grenades were lobbed at the gate of the barracks where Abhisit has been forced to live and work since the protests began.
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