Thai protesters surround Interior Ministry
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Thousands of protesters surrounded Thailand’s Interior Ministry and forced the evacuation of four others yesterday, intensifying their campaign to bring down the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The protesters defied a tough security law imposed late on Monday, after they had stormed two other ministries, to control demonstrations against Yingluck and her billionaire brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the protest leader and a former deputy prime minister under the previous government, urged supporters to mount more blockades of government buildings today, not only in Bangkok but across the country.
“Go to every ministry and make sure they are all surrounded, so they can no longer work for the Thaksin regime,” Suthep told tens of thousands of flag-waving protesters in a late night speech at the Finance Ministry they have occupied.
As crowds swelled on the streets, Yingluck and her ruling Puea Thai Party were locked in a two-day confidence debate in parliament where they hold a commanding majority. The opposition has accused them of corruption and trying to pass laws to whitewash Thaksin of a graft conviction.
Civil servants fled as groups of demonstrators surrounded the interior, agriculture, tourism and transport ministries in blockades that have plunged Thailand into its deepest political uncertainty since it was convulsed by the bloodiest unrest in a generation in 2010.
“Getting rid of the Thaksin regime is not easy,” Suthep said. The demonstration “might be longer” than the three days originally planned, he said.
Yingluck, who opponents accuse of being a puppet for her brother, is expected to prevail in tomorrow’s confidence vote. But it is unlikely to defuse a crisis fueled by anger over the electoral and legislative power the Shinawatra family has held, and is accused of abusing.
After forcing their way inside the Finance Ministry on Monday and bursting through the gates of the Foreign Ministry compound, 3,000 protesters circled the Interior Ministry.
They pushed up against the compound gates, some peering over a metal fence topped with razor wire and urged dozens of security guards to let them in. The crowd at the ministry dispersed by nightfall and returned to their main protest site in Bangkok’s historic heart.
A court issued a warrant yesterday for the arrest of Suthep in connection with the raid on the Finance Ministry. He and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have been charged with murder for allowing troops to open fire on Thaksin’s supporters staging a protest in 2010.
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