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Thursday, 9 April 2009
200,000 want Thai King’s advisers out
Red-shirted and painted protesters rallying outside the home of royal adviser Prem Tinsulanonda in Bangkok yesterday. The supporters of ousted Thai PM Thaksin intend to stay at the site until their demands for the government's resignation are met.
Protesters in the heart of Bangkok also demand government’s resignation
By Nirmal Ghosh 9 April 2009
BANGKOK: Close to 200,000 people gathered yesterday at the home of the Thai King’s top adviser, General Prem Tinsulanonda, to demand that he and other advisers and the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resign.
They banged heart-shaped clappers and cheered as protest leaders atop parked trucks shouted for Gen Prem, 88, and two other advisers to step down.
Inside his compound, hundreds of riot police stood three rows deep and barbed wire barred the entrance, but it was not clear whether the general was inside.
The protesters’ show of strength was significant, although organisers had hoped 300,000 would show up.
The crowd sprawled across a large swathe of old Bangkok at both Government House and outside Gen Prem’s home. Several big screens were set up on the streets showing messages from former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Organisers of the pro-democracy ‘red shirts’ - loosely referred to as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) - said they intended staying until their demands were met.
Many of them support the return of Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The former premier has egged on demonstrators with almost nightly video addresses from overseas.
The rally here remained peaceful apart from a few minor scuffles. Security forces were discreet, allowing the protesters free rein.
‘There is a group of people wanting to create chaos, but the government will do everything to restrain them,’ Prime Minister Abhisit said in an interview on Channel 3 television.
‘If there is rioting, we will have to do something. I can affirm there will be no violence starting from the government’s side.’
His spokesman, Professor Panitan Wattanayagorn, told The Straits Times: ‘So far, we will stand firm on the rule of law and protect critical infrastructure and institutions. But the government’s position is quite clear: These demands cannot be met.’
He acknowledged, however, that there was ‘a lot of concern’ because of the bigger numbers of protesters arriving.
If there was an incident, he added, it would be ‘difficult to keep the peace at night’.
But the government reaffirmed that the Asean summit with its regional partners, scheduled to begin in Pattaya tomorrow, would go ahead despite Tuesday’s attack on the Prime Minister’s vehicle by red shirts.
Prof Panitan said: ‘Given the aggression (in Pattaya), we have to work harder to ensure that small groups of people don’t spark more violence.’
Red shirts poured into the capital from dozens of provinces yesterday. The protest brought a large part of old Bangkok to a standstill, leading organisers to claim they had proven their strength.
One key leader of the movement, former Cabinet minister and Thaksin loyalist Jakrapob Penkair, told The Straits Times: ‘Our challenge is to sustain the quantity (of people). We would say (we will stay) indefinitely at this point. We cannot afford to leave his (Gen Prem’s) residence or the area empty handed.’
There were no signs of negotiations or dialogue with the government, however. Sources said the army was divided on how to handle the swelling protest.
For the first time in Thailand’s recent history, demonstrators have targeted an icon of the capital’s elite establishment for interfering in politics and undermining electoral democracy.
Rumours of bomb scares have followed the arrest of three men at the weekend. They were nabbed over a plot to assassinate one of the Privy Councillors named by Thaksin as having engineered his downfall - and to set fire to some buildings in the capital.
Prof Panitan, however, indicated that the government’s policy was maximum restraint. The hope is that the onset of the annual Songkran festival on Monday will thin out the protest.
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200,000 want Thai King’s advisers out
Protesters in the heart of Bangkok also demand government’s resignation
By Nirmal Ghosh
9 April 2009
BANGKOK: Close to 200,000 people gathered yesterday at the home of the Thai King’s top adviser, General Prem Tinsulanonda, to demand that he and other advisers and the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resign.
They banged heart-shaped clappers and cheered as protest leaders atop parked trucks shouted for Gen Prem, 88, and two other advisers to step down.
Inside his compound, hundreds of riot police stood three rows deep and barbed wire barred the entrance, but it was not clear whether the general was inside.
The protesters’ show of strength was significant, although organisers had hoped 300,000 would show up.
The crowd sprawled across a large swathe of old Bangkok at both Government House and outside Gen Prem’s home. Several big screens were set up on the streets showing messages from former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Organisers of the pro-democracy ‘red shirts’ - loosely referred to as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) - said they intended staying until their demands were met.
Many of them support the return of Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The former premier has egged on demonstrators with almost nightly video addresses from overseas.
The rally here remained peaceful apart from a few minor scuffles. Security forces were discreet, allowing the protesters free rein.
‘There is a group of people wanting to create chaos, but the government will do everything to restrain them,’ Prime Minister Abhisit said in an interview on Channel 3 television.
‘If there is rioting, we will have to do something. I can affirm there will be no violence starting from the government’s side.’
His spokesman, Professor Panitan Wattanayagorn, told The Straits Times: ‘So far, we will stand firm on the rule of law and protect critical infrastructure and institutions. But the government’s position is quite clear: These demands cannot be met.’
He acknowledged, however, that there was ‘a lot of concern’ because of the bigger numbers of protesters arriving.
If there was an incident, he added, it would be ‘difficult to keep the peace at night’.
But the government reaffirmed that the Asean summit with its regional partners, scheduled to begin in Pattaya tomorrow, would go ahead despite Tuesday’s attack on the Prime Minister’s vehicle by red shirts.
Prof Panitan said: ‘Given the aggression (in Pattaya), we have to work harder to ensure that small groups of people don’t spark more violence.’
Red shirts poured into the capital from dozens of provinces yesterday. The protest brought a large part of old Bangkok to a standstill, leading organisers to claim they had proven their strength.
One key leader of the movement, former Cabinet minister and Thaksin loyalist Jakrapob Penkair, told The Straits Times: ‘Our challenge is to sustain the quantity (of people). We would say (we will stay) indefinitely at this point. We cannot afford to leave his (Gen Prem’s) residence or the area empty handed.’
There were no signs of negotiations or dialogue with the government, however. Sources said the army was divided on how to handle the swelling protest.
For the first time in Thailand’s recent history, demonstrators have targeted an icon of the capital’s elite establishment for interfering in politics and undermining electoral democracy.
Rumours of bomb scares have followed the arrest of three men at the weekend. They were nabbed over a plot to assassinate one of the Privy Councillors named by Thaksin as having engineered his downfall - and to set fire to some buildings in the capital.
Prof Panitan, however, indicated that the government’s policy was maximum restraint. The hope is that the onset of the annual Songkran festival on Monday will thin out the protest.
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