THAI'S PM REJECTED ULTIMATUM TO DISSOLVE PARLIMENT
BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister, backed by a formidable military force, rejected an ultimatum to dissolve Parliament on Monday as tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters vowed to continue their push to oust the government.
They later set another deadline, threatening to pour 1 million cubic centimeters of blood drawn from their ranks at Government House, the seat of government, if their renewed demand was rejected by 6 p.m. Monday. The amount of blood would require more than 2,000 people to donate one pint of blood each.
Source: Yahoo News, AP
They later set another deadline, threatening to pour 1 million cubic centimeters of blood drawn from their ranks at Government House, the seat of government, if their renewed demand was rejected by 6 p.m. Monday. The amount of blood would require more than 2,000 people to donate one pint of blood each.
- "The blood will be taken from the body and democratic soul of the Red Shirts," said a protest leader, Nutthawut Saikua, referring to the popular name for the protesters. He said they would start drawing blood at 8 a.m. Tuesday if the government didn't meet their demand.
- In the first reported violence of the protests, two soldiers were wounded when four grenades exploded inside an army headquarters ringed by the demonstrators, said army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd.
- He did not blame the demonstrators but said there has been intelligence that some elements had been planning such attacks. The grenades were fired from an M-79 launcher, he said.
- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the key target of the massive demonstration, earlier said he could not give in to the protesters' demand to dissolve Parliament by midday but left room for compromise.
- The demonstrators marshaled around the heavily defended 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters where Abhisit has been hunkered down in recent days, but after the deadline passed they began a march back to their main encampment.
- "Asking for the dissolution of Parliament before noon in exchange for a halt to the demonstrations, we all agreed it can't be done. However, it doesn't mean the government coalition parties and I won't listen to their ideas," Abhisit said on nationwide television.
- Some 100,000 Red Shirt protesters have been camped out along a boulevard in the old part of Bangkok. A force of more than 50,000 soldiers, police and other security personnel has been mobilized in the capital area.
THAI PROTESTS CANCEL ASIAN SUMMIT
A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand has been postponed after anti-government protesters broke into the venue in the resort of Pattaya.PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has declared an "extreme state of emergency" in Pattaya, and said his priority was to ensure the leaders got home safely.
Several leaders from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) have now been airlifted from the area.
Thailand has been in turmoil, with the opposition demanding fresh elections.
- The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says Thais have spent months organising the summit, but security around the venue collapsed in a matter of hours as thousands pushed their way through the police cordon.
- It is a humiliation for the government, our correspondent says. He adds that it raises questions over whether the deep divisions that have emerged in Thai society are also damaging morale in the police and the army.
- The meeting was due to get into full swing on Saturday before concluding on Sunday with a summit due to include India, Australia and New Zealand.
- But as the talks were due to get under way in Pattaya, thousands of red-shirted supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra smashed into the media centre adjacent to the conference hall.
- Later Prime Minister Abhisit said in a statement broadcast live on TV, "The government has decided to postpone the Asean summit meeting. I have met with other Asean leaders and have told them my decision and they all understood the situation".
Courtesy: BBC News
THAI PROTESTERS BREAK SUMMIT CORDON
Hundreds of anti-government protesters in Thailand have broken through security cordons surrounding a summit of Asian leaders in the beach resort town of Pattaya.
The protesters, who are demanding the resignation of Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, converged on the summit venue on Friday threatening to disrupt the conference centre unless he bows to their demands.Chanting "Abhisit get out," several hundred red-shirted protesters pushed past riot police lines outside the convention centre and began blocking entrances to the building.
There was no reported violence, but columns of hundreds of soldiers with riot gear were seen marching toward the site.As they did so, a truck with a loud speaker denounced Abhisit's government, saying he had no right to host the summit, which brings together leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) plus, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
"We will peacefully block the area and the summit site," Arisman Pongreungrong, a protest leader, told the Associated Press. "We do not want any violence."
Abhisit has rejected the protesters demands and has ordered increased security in Pattaya for the summit.
About 8,000 police have been deployed around the summit venue, with protesters kept several kilometres from the meeting.
"Nothing untoward will happen to the leaders. We will make sure of that," Suthep Thaugsuban, the deputy prime minister, told reporters seeking to assure visiting heads of state that they will be safe. "We have to make sure the meeting can go on."
The summit is expected to focus on measures to combat the global economic crisis, stressing the importance of preserving free trade and fighting protectionism.
China and the Asean states are also due to sign a long-planned free-trade agreement, a key in the regional body's ambition to create the world's largest.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
THAI PM DODGES BANGKOK PROTESTERS
Hundreds of protesters camped outside Government House, a car carrying Abhisit Vejjajiva entered the compound in Bangkok through a side entrance, witnesses said on Wednesday.However, Thailand's prime minister has avoided anti-government protests outside his offices and slipped through barricades as demonstrators continued to demand he dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
With hundreds of protesters camped outside Government House, a car carrying Abhisit Vejjajiva entered the compound in Bangkok through a side entrance, witnesses said on Wednesday.
Abhisit had earlier returned to the Thai capital after a rally by more than 10,000 red-shirted
anti-government protesters forced him to move Tuesday's weekly cabinet meeting to the seaside resort town of Hua Hin. Many of the protesters are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup – had vowed to camp outside the building until their demands were met.But overnight numbers dwindled to less than 1,000, a police official told AFP news agency.
Aside from dissolving parliament, the "Red Shirts" also want the government to prosecute leaders of the rival "Yellow Shirts", whose protests closed down Bangkok's two main airports late last year, and sack Kasit Piromya, the Thai foreign
minister.The protests are the latest move in months of political turmoil that has swept Thailand, and threatens to further undermine confidence in an economy already reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
