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Thai protesters refuse to pack up, push new demands
Source: Agencies |
May 11, 2010, Tuesday
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THAI anti-government protesters remained camped on the streets of Bangkok today, refusing to end a two-month demonstration until a deputy prime minister faces charges over a clash with troops in April that killed 25 people.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the "red shirts", accepted a timetable for a Nov. 14 election but set a new condition that Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban be formally charged.
That raised doubts over a quick, peaceful end to a crisis that has killed 29 people, paralysed an upmarket commercial district at a cost to retailers of more than US$30 million, decimated Thailand's tourist industry and squeezed Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
"Once Suthep turns himself in to the police, the UDD will disperse and return home," a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told supporters late yesterday.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said that was unlikely to happen and such an unrealistic demand might play into the government's hands.
"People understand the government wants to calm the situation and reconcile with the red shirts. Now the red shirts have come up with their own conditions which the government cannot comply with," Pavin said.
Suthep appeared before the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Tuesday to hear complaints filed against him by the protesters, but he faces no formal charges.
"It shows Suthep may just be playing a political game," red shirt leader Nattawut said, adding protesters want "clear signs that the government will acknowledge their part in the violence".
"WHEN WILL THEY LEAVE?"
Thai stocks rose 1.4 percent on Monday, less than some other Asian bourses, and a similar trend was likely on Tuesday, with optimism over a European Union plan to help indebted euro zone countries offset by the domestic crisis.
"Things are looking up on the political front but it's not over yet," said Siam City Securities analyst Sukit Udomsirikul. "Yes, the red shirts accepted Abhisit's plan for a Nov. 14 poll and the timetable for dissolving parliament, but what people really want to know here is: when are they going to leave?"
On April 10, troops clashed with protesters in a chaotic gun battle in Bangkok's old quarter. Twenty civilians and five soldiers were killed and more than 800 people wounded.
The government blames the killings on "terrorists" working with the red shirts. In return, the red shirt leaders have denounced the government as "tyrants" and "murderers".
The mostly rural and working-class protesters accepted the election timetable proposed by the government, including plans to dissolve parliament in the second half of September but academic Pavin said that was probably irrelevant, given their conditions.
"With the red shirts' requests, I don't think November elections are going to happen. The government has said it will only go forward with Nov. 14 elections if they can bring back some kind of normalcy to Bangkok," he said.
Abhisit does not have to call an election until the end of 2011 but offered the November poll on May 3 as a way to end the crisis.
He had pushed for a reply by Monday after weekend gun and grenade attacks that killed two policemen and wounded 13 people.
The authorities are faced with the dilemma of how to dislodge thousands of protesters, including women and children, from a fortified encampment sprawling across 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) of the central Bangkok shopping district.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the "red shirts", accepted a timetable for a Nov. 14 election but set a new condition that Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban be formally charged.
That raised doubts over a quick, peaceful end to a crisis that has killed 29 people, paralysed an upmarket commercial district at a cost to retailers of more than US$30 million, decimated Thailand's tourist industry and squeezed Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
"Once Suthep turns himself in to the police, the UDD will disperse and return home," a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told supporters late yesterday.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said that was unlikely to happen and such an unrealistic demand might play into the government's hands.
"People understand the government wants to calm the situation and reconcile with the red shirts. Now the red shirts have come up with their own conditions which the government cannot comply with," Pavin said.
Suthep appeared before the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Tuesday to hear complaints filed against him by the protesters, but he faces no formal charges.
"It shows Suthep may just be playing a political game," red shirt leader Nattawut said, adding protesters want "clear signs that the government will acknowledge their part in the violence".
"WHEN WILL THEY LEAVE?"
Thai stocks rose 1.4 percent on Monday, less than some other Asian bourses, and a similar trend was likely on Tuesday, with optimism over a European Union plan to help indebted euro zone countries offset by the domestic crisis.
"Things are looking up on the political front but it's not over yet," said Siam City Securities analyst Sukit Udomsirikul. "Yes, the red shirts accepted Abhisit's plan for a Nov. 14 poll and the timetable for dissolving parliament, but what people really want to know here is: when are they going to leave?"
On April 10, troops clashed with protesters in a chaotic gun battle in Bangkok's old quarter. Twenty civilians and five soldiers were killed and more than 800 people wounded.
The government blames the killings on "terrorists" working with the red shirts. In return, the red shirt leaders have denounced the government as "tyrants" and "murderers".
The mostly rural and working-class protesters accepted the election timetable proposed by the government, including plans to dissolve parliament in the second half of September but academic Pavin said that was probably irrelevant, given their conditions.
"With the red shirts' requests, I don't think November elections are going to happen. The government has said it will only go forward with Nov. 14 elections if they can bring back some kind of normalcy to Bangkok," he said.
Abhisit does not have to call an election until the end of 2011 but offered the November poll on May 3 as a way to end the crisis.
He had pushed for a reply by Monday after weekend gun and grenade attacks that killed two policemen and wounded 13 people.
The authorities are faced with the dilemma of how to dislodge thousands of protesters, including women and children, from a fortified encampment sprawling across 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) of the central Bangkok shopping district.
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