Emboldened by the removal of the Thai prime minister, antigovernment protesters withdrew from the city’s main park yesterday and marched to the vacated prime minister’s office compound — where the protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has pledged to set up his new office.
Meanwhile, the country’s new caretaker leader hosted his first formal news conference with foreign media at a makeshift, suburban outpost that has been the Thai government base for months. He shrugged off the protesters’ plans to occupy the symbolic seat of power.
“We do not want violence or any problems,” acting Thai Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan said, defending the government’s hands-off approach as good crisis management.
Photo: EPA
In a 40-minute news conference, he reiterated calls for a July election and said he and his Cabinet were committed to finding a peaceful solution to the country’s deepening political crisis.
Yesterday’s developments highlighted the government’s lack of power as Thailand’s political crisis grinds into its seventh month.
Protesters achieved one of their goals last week when the Thai Constitutional Court dismissed former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra for nepotism in a case that many viewed as politically motivated.
They say her removal is not enough and want to set up an unelected “people’s council” to implement still-undefined reforms to combat corruption and money politics before an election can be held.
They oppose elections scheduled for July, which the current ruling party would likely win.
Suthep who has led the movement for six months, has called for a “final push” to install an unelected leader — a goal that critics call undemocratic, but supporters say is a necessary step to carry out needed reforms.
Yesterday, Suthep ended a months-long occupation of Bangkok’s Lumpini Park, a tropical oasis that protesters had converted into a litter-strewn campground.
He led thousands of supporters to the Thai parliament, where the Senate was holding a meeting yesterday to discuss the crisis and debate his controversial proposal for an appointed prime minister.
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