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"Red shirt" protesters to target Thai military base
Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra gives a live video address to supporters during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok March 14, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Kerek Wongsa
BANGKOK |
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-government protesters in Bangkok plan to march to a military base on Monday to step up pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
The red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra have given the government an ultimatum: call elections by midday on Monday or face crippling mass demonstrations.
The protests which began on Friday and involved more than 150,000 people by Sunday have been peaceful, and the "red shirts" say they will remain that way. But Monday's march could stoke anger by paralyzing already-congested streets in Bangkok.
"We will march over there, brothers and sisters. We will go to the infantry to get an answer from Abhisit himself," said Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the protest group, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
"With this many people on the streets, I don't see how he still thinks he has any legitimacy," he added.
Foreign investors worry any violence will derail a nascent recovery in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy but they have expressed confidence in Thailand's financial markets by snapping up local stocks in recent weeks.
That view is based on three factors: Thai assets are already trading at a substantial risk discount, the economy has rebounded well from the global downturn despite bouts of unrest, and Abhisit is widely expected to survive the showdown.
Protest leaders hope a powerful display of popular support will force Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call an election that Thaksin allies would be well-placed to win. They also want to convince wavering partners in his coalition to break away.
Abhisit and his coalition are unlikely to bow to the pressure, the latest in a seemingly intractable political crisis pitting the military, urban elite and royalists -- who wear yellow shirts at protests and back Abhisit -- against mainly rural Thaksin supporters who wear red and say they are disenfranchised.
Most of the protesters traveled from Thailand's poor, rural provinces, piling into pick-up trucks, cars and even river boats, and illustrating Thaksin's influence even after his ouster in a 2006 coup, graft conviction and self-imposed exile. Take a Look on the political crisis in Thailand.
RISKS TO COME
Abhisit must go to the polls by the end of next year.
Thaksin's allies are likely to win those elections just as they have won every poll held since 2001. The military and urban elite are likely to seek to overturn that result, possibly with a coup, as in 2006, or a judicial intervention, as in 2008.
In his weekly television address on Sunday, Abhisit indicated immediate elections were unlikely, citing the tense political climate and his government's parliamentary majority.
Several main roads near government offices were blocked off either by protesters' pick-up trucks and motorcycles or cordoned off by police and soldiers. Authorities deployed 50,000 police, soldiers and other security personnel across the city.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said protesters risk arrest if they disrupt life for Bangkok residents.
Last April, protests by Thaksin supporters triggered Thailand's worst street violence in 17 years. In recent months, they have emphasized non-violence -- and Thaksin's rhetoric has softened since last year when he spoke of a "revolution."
But without causing a big disruption, they may have trouble forcing elections, said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a political historian at Thammasart University. "It's hard to pressure the government if the crowd is under control," he said.
The protesters say the British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power illegitimately, heading a coalition the military cobbled together after courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin party that led the previous coalition government.
Adding to their anger, Thailand's top court seized $1.4 billion of Thaksin's assets last month, saying it was accrued through abuse of power.
Thailand was plagued by political upheaval in 2008 when yellow-shirted protesters who opposed Thaksin's allies in the previous government occupied the prime minister's office for three months and then blockaded Bangkok's international airport until a court ousted the government.
(Writing by Jason Szep; Additional reporting by Ambika Ahuja; Editing by Louise Ireland)
The problem with the Red Shirts is that they are mostly paid by Thaksin and his organizations to attend or vote. To get votes he paid THB1,000 and to attend this latest protest his organizations are paying THB 500 to every demonstrator.
Thaksin him self is playing this situation to establish him self as the true new ruller for Thailand to replace the monarchy. His latest remark that he is aware that the aristocratic elite and he is not naming the person is a clear shot at the King and insulting the Royal Family and the monarchy. Unfortunately most of his supporters are not that versed with the wording technique that Thaksin uses so they do not understand that he is insulting the King and asking for the King to be displaced.
The current government has been elected by the same members that voted before for Thaksin, just that some of them woke up and decided to build a government of unity instead of corruption.
If the Red Shirts want to the law to work, than they need to accept the current government and wait for the elections in 2011. They also need to press Thaksin to come back to Thailand and submit him self to accept his jail term and fight it legally and not by hurting the country.
Thaksin personal agenda is hurting THialand and its citizens. His actions and the ones of the Red Shirts are the reason for Thailand to not prosper but to fall back economically.
First it was the one million Red Shirts will demonstrate. Now it is maybe 100,000. Their threats to burn Bangkok to overturn the government is a clear indication of how ruthless Thaksin is to achieve power. His own wealth is more important than his country!
I’m an American Thai, and thankful to be free of the burden, common to so many countries, of allegiance to religion/nation and/or their symbols. Yes, the King is holy, but this world consists only of men, women and their motives. I am proud of Thai history, but what was the modern kingdom other than aristocracy? Most of it is make-believe. Only in some countries, where there is no tradition can people begin to free themselves of nationalism/religion. Someday Thailand may choose justice over fairy tales.
Maybe it’s hopeless, traditional Bangkok won’t free itself of illusions of perfect royalty. How else can they keep denying that the king is a puppet?
Thaksin is a typical politician, but he ended the tyranny of Bangkok, and was the first one to give a crap about the poor.
No one ever gave them health care? Well that was a mistake. No one can stop what happened. There will be a revolution, the slave’s minds have been freed, and whether Thaksin is there or not they want freedom. Everyone who thinks knows this, credible reports coming from the top Thai schools tend to support the reds, it’s doubtful that any real intellectuals support the yellows.
I’m some random commenter, call me a fake Thai or whatever, but just look at what the well-educated, non-partisan Thai are saying. Will Bkk wake up? Not easily. It will be hard for us to change, but something’s got to give.
There is no doubt that Thaksin won two elections and on that basis he should be heading the country. The problem, from what I can understand of Thai politics, is that there seems to be very few leaders from any party that you would trust with running the country. Some of Thaksin’s allies, in particular, come across as particularly shady characters who seem to hop around from various parties always looking for whatever situation best serves their own interests.
Thailand cannot be the same as it was. A lot of people don’t understand how the prime minister they love corrupted his own country and still support him.
qing_mai
You are correct that Thaksin gave the Thais a kind of health insurance. Never the less, he achieved his popularity by buying votes not earning them. And misusing the power to his own advantage is one of the things that you are complaining about the other side. Don’t be hypocritical.
Changes are needed but not the way how Thaksin is doing it. He will try to make Thailand into a second Cambodia. He is the undisputed ruler and nothing else will happen.
The King is what is holding Thailand together and ensuring stability. The red shirts should participate in real solution finding and not be the puppet of Thaksin!
MCos
Thaksin violated the office that he held and was sentenced to prison for that.
To be a real observer of the Thai politics, one must listen closely and filter the news and information from both political camps before coming to a conclusion of what’s going on. Both sides adopted tactics and present only their side of the story. Lies were also employed to persuade people to believe that they were factual accounts.
However, you should understand that the current Abhisit’s government has the edge of controling almost all media. The red-shirts only have their D-Station that can be tuned in only by a satellite dish receiver.
It is apparent that most of the comments posed here were based on pieces and bits of information they came across rather than the whole picture.
These people finally get a taste of the good life – it’s no wonder they want a piece of the political action
Thailand was ALways, always, corrupt! Giving the poor a somewhat better life will snowball into major changes! It doesn’t matter how, those with nothing will start to take from those who have everything, and BKK is the corrupt center of a mostly poor nation.
How’s ILlegitimate government for corruption?
