Tuesday, 6 April 2010

Thailand protesters reject call to end demonstrations

via CAAI News Media

Monday 5th April, 2010

Anti-government protesters Monday rejected Thai authorities' demands to end their demonstration at a key shopping and tourism district in the heart of Bangkok.

The protesters, known as the red shirts for their favoured hue of clothing, tore up copies of an order to disperse, delivered by officers of the government's Peacekeeping Operations Command.

The red shirts were gathered at the city's Ratchaprasong intersection, home to some of the city's most luxurious shopping malls and hotels.

Their rally, although peaceful, has disrupted hundreds of businesses, snarled traffic and caused millions of dollars in lost revenues.

The demonstrators, including many rural poor bused in from the north-east of the country, have been camped on the streets and sidewalks in the ritzy shopping area since Saturday to try to pressure the government to step down and call fresh elections.

Most of the protesters profess loyalty to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He jumped bail to go into self-imposed exile after he was convicted of corruption in 2008.

Government leaders filed for a court injunction to end the demonstration, but leaders of the pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which is leading the demonstrations, filed a counter-suit against the government, leading to a legal stalemate.

Chatuporn Phompan - a core leader of the UDD - said Monday that the demonstrators would reject any court order, just as they rejected the order from the Peacekeeping Operations Command.

Speaking to a cheering crowd from a makeshift stage draped with red flags, Chatuporn reminded his audience that another court injunction was issued in 2008 to evict anti-Thaksin demonstrators from Government House.

That order was defied by those yellow-shirted protesters and any new court order would be similarly rejected, Chatuporn said. He called on more demonstrators to come to Bangkok from the provinces to join the protest.

Protest leaders insisted they would remain at the Ratchaprasong intersection and at another protest site at the Phan Fa Bridge in the old area of Bangkok.

They sent a convoy of pickups and motorcycles to the headquarters of the Election Commission in Chang Wattana on Bangkok's northern outskirts to pressure the commission to prosecute leaders of the Democrat Party, which leads the current government, for campaign law violations.

UDD co-leader Weng Tojirakarn complained that the Election Commission was dragging its feet in prosecuting the Democrat leaders for offences that could bring about the party's dissolution.

After rallying more than 10,000 supporters for several hours at the commission headquarters, UDD leaders claimed a victory, saying the commission had agreed to speed up its investigation of the Democrats and submit its case to the Constitutional Court by April 20.

The UDD leaders said they would return to the commission headquarters on that day to make sure the commissioners kept their word.

UDD Secretary General Nattawut Saikuer claimed the government was planning to mount an attack on the party's People's Channel satellite TV station in northern Bangkok and called on supporters to protect it.

'We found out from a reliable source that the authorities will close our station and then they'll crack down on the demonstration,' he said in a speech to the crowd at Ratchaprasong.

'We want to send our message to our supporters throughout the country that if you can't receive the station you should come to Bangkok and join the demonstrations. Those who can't come here should go to their local provincial halls.'

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has repeatedly urged the protesters and the police to remain calm and non-violent. He has come under criticism from business leaders and fellow Democrats for being too soft on the demonstrators.

Leaders of the anti-Thaksin camp have threatened to mobilise to oppose the red shirts, raising fears of violent clashes.

Thaksin has frequently addressed the anti-government rallies via video link from exile. He is also reported to have provided millions of dollars to finance the demonstrations, including cash hand-outs to protesters.

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