Thailand’s government and Red Shirt protesters yesterday committed themselves to a faltering peace process despite twin attacks that left two police officers dead.
Grenade blasts and a drive-by shooting targeted security forces, who are facing off against the anti-government Red Shirts at their massive rally encampment which has shut down most of Bangkok’s main shopping district.
Both sides said the attacks were the work of groups intent on derailing embattled Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s reconciliation “roadmap” aimed at ending a two-month confrontation by holding elections on Nov. 14.
PHOTO: AFP
The Red Shirts have signed up to the peace process, but are demanding a firm date for the dissolution of parliament before disbanding their protest base, where they are barricaded behind piles of fuel-soaked tires and razor wire.
The overnight attacks also wounded 12 people in the latest outbreak of violence in a crisis that has left another 27 dead and nearly 1,000 injured in deadly clashes and other explosions.
The government urged the Red Shirts to end their campaign quickly to avoid further bloodshed.
“Some groups of people do not want to see [the plan] succeed, so the government calls on the Red Shirts to quickly make a decision, otherwise there will be more casualties,” government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.
Police said three grenades were thrown at a security checkpoint in front of a city park that forms the edge of the Red Shirts’ camp. A 35-year-old policeman died in hospital, while another five police and three soldiers were wounded.
Earlier, one policeman was killed and four others — two police and two civilians — were injured when a man on a motorbike opened fire on officers patrolling the nearby Silom financial district.
The Red Shirts denied any involvement in the attacks, which they also said were carried out by elements intent on sabotaging the peace plan.
“This will not distract us or derail the process,” Red Shirt leader Nattawut Saikuar said.
He indicated, however, that an agreement was not yet within reach.
“The five-point roadmap plan which is proposed by Abhisit we already understand, but on our part, we need a few more days to come up with our own proposals, which will be flexible,” he said.
Underlining the determination of the Red Shirts to remain at their heavily fortified base, 5,000 more supporters arrived yesterday from the movement’s heartland in Thailand’s rural and impoverished northeast.
Crowds at the Red Shirt’s camp have swelled to as many as 100,000 people in the past, but earlier this week when a resolution appeared in sight, numbers dwindled to just a few thousand as a weary air descended on the rally area.
Panitan said the arrival of the reinforcements did not bode well for the peace negotiations.
Hopes for Abhisit’s plan have see-sawed in recent days as it has met with growing opposition among Thailand’s rival protest movements.
The pro-establishment Yellow Shirts — who blockaded Bangkok’s two main airports in 2008 in their own protests — have rejected the roadmap and election plan and called on the prime minister to resign.
In another setback, a moderate pro-government group known as the “Multicoloreds,” whose rallies in the capital have also drawn thousands of supporters, called for the election date to be pushed back.
In a color-coded crisis, Thailand is largely split between the mainly rural poor and urban working class Red Shirts — who broadly support fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra — and the elite-backed Yellow Shirts.
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