Thai protests shut shopping centers
Source: Agencies |
April 4, 2010, Sunday
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THOUSANDS of anti-government protesters occupied the commercial heart of Bangkok yesterday, forcing the closure of major shopping malls, and said they won't leave until the prime minister dissolves Parliament and calls new elections.
The government first ordered them out before the end of the day but as the deadline passed said negotiations would continue today.
It was the fourth weekend demonstration in Thailand's capital by the mainly poor, rural protesters known as the Red Shirts.
They poured into an area of the city lined with upscale hotels and glitzy shopping malls as they groped for tactics to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to meet their demands, after failing to oust his government through peaceful marches and negotiations.
More than a half dozen shopping malls, normally packed with weekend shoppers, as well as office buildings were closed for security reasons as about 10,000 protesters gathered, according to Metropolitan Police spokesman Piya Utayo.
He said the total number of demonstrators, including those in other parts of the city and on the move, reached nearly 55,000.
The government first sent senior police officers to negotiate and gave the protesters until 9pm to disperse.
The talks broke down after the Red Shirts refused to leave and police General Panupong Singhara Na Ayuthaya, who headed the negotiating team, said they would resume today.
"If the government wants to arrest us, they would have to arrest every single one of us," a protest leader, Veera Musikapong, told the crowd.
Mobile toilets, food and water began to arrive, some of it brought in from Bangkok's historic quarter where the protesters have been camped since March 12. "Today's another day when commoners will declare war to bring democracy to the country," said another protest leader.
The government first ordered them out before the end of the day but as the deadline passed said negotiations would continue today.
It was the fourth weekend demonstration in Thailand's capital by the mainly poor, rural protesters known as the Red Shirts.
They poured into an area of the city lined with upscale hotels and glitzy shopping malls as they groped for tactics to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to meet their demands, after failing to oust his government through peaceful marches and negotiations.
More than a half dozen shopping malls, normally packed with weekend shoppers, as well as office buildings were closed for security reasons as about 10,000 protesters gathered, according to Metropolitan Police spokesman Piya Utayo.
He said the total number of demonstrators, including those in other parts of the city and on the move, reached nearly 55,000.
The government first sent senior police officers to negotiate and gave the protesters until 9pm to disperse.
The talks broke down after the Red Shirts refused to leave and police General Panupong Singhara Na Ayuthaya, who headed the negotiating team, said they would resume today.
"If the government wants to arrest us, they would have to arrest every single one of us," a protest leader, Veera Musikapong, told the crowd.
Mobile toilets, food and water began to arrive, some of it brought in from Bangkok's historic quarter where the protesters have been camped since March 12. "Today's another day when commoners will declare war to bring democracy to the country," said another protest leader.
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