The Thai prime minister stayed away from his office yesterday as thousands of protesters calling for his resignation and allied with deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrounded the seat of government for a fifth day.
Protesters ignored police warnings to stop blocking entrances to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s office, where they have gathered since Thursday in the largest protests since his administration arrived in December.
The demonstrators say Abhisit’s government came to power through illegal means and should step down. Abhisit has rejected their calls.
PHOTO: AFP
Abhisit said last week he would enter his office at Government House yesterday. But he revised the plan yesterday morning, saying the situation remained under control, but he would not be going to his office before traveling to London today for the G20 summit.
“I have not received any report of anything abnormal,” he told reporters at parliament before a meeting at the UN’s regional headquarters, which is near Government House.
Hundreds of protesters staged a loud but peaceful protest outside the UN office amid tight security.
The protests are the latest episode in Thailand’s long-running political turmoil, which last year was dominated by months of demonstrations by Thaksin’s political opponents, who besieged Government House and shuttered Bangkok’s two main airports for a week.
Outside Government House, police shouted warnings through loudspeakers: “If you don’t disperse, we will use crowd control measures ranging from soft measures to harsh measures.”
But the warnings emboldened thousands of protesters gathered in the midday heat, as they listened to speakers on a makeshift stage.
“Please prepare yourselves for possible crackdown,” one protest leader, Nattawut Sai-kua, told the crowd. “But you have nothing to fear. Thousands more will join us if the police use violence.”
Police lieutenant-general Worapong Chiewpreecha said security officials have not been ordered to disperse the crowd. Abhisit has repeatedly said the government will not use violence.
The latest protests have been organized by demonstrators commonly known as the “red shirts” because of their attire, which contrasts with the yellow shirts worn by their rivals, who led last year’s protests.
The group is an eclectic mix of Thaksin loyalists, rural farmers and laborers.
On Sunday, Abhisit said authorities are trying to block the call-ins by Thaksin, who has become the main attraction at the rallies, speaking via video link on an almost nightly basis from abroad. He has called for supporters to stage nationwide protests.
Thaksin was deposed by a 2006 coup for corruption and abuse of power. He fled into exile last year before a court convicted him in absentia of violating a conflict of interest law.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
‘ARBITRARY’ CASE: Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila has maintained his innocence and called the country’s courts an instrument of oppression Former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) president Joseph Kabila went on trial in absentia on Friday on charges including treason over alleged support for Rwanda-backed militants, an AFP reporter at the court said. Kabila, who has lived outside the DR Congo for two years, stands accused at a military court of plotting to overthrow the government of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi — a charge that could yield a death sentence. He also faces charges including homicide, torture and rape linked to the anti-government force M23, the charge sheet said. Other charges include “taking part in an insurrection movement,” “crime against the
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
POLITICAL PATRIARCHS: Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are driven by an escalating feud between rival political families, analysts say The dispute over Thailand and Cambodia’s contested border, which dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps, has broken into conflict before. However, the most recent clashes, which erupted on Thursday, have been fueled by another factor: a bitter feud between two powerful political patriarchs. Cambodian Senate President and former prime minister Hun Sen, 72, and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, were once such close friends that they reportedly called one another brothers. Hun Sen has, over the years, supported Thaksin’s family during their long-running power struggle with Thailand’s military. Thaksin and his sister Yingluck stayed
RSS