Thailand to beef up security for regional forum
BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Thailand's government has given the security forces the authority to declare a curfew and impose other measures they deem necessary to stop protesters disrupting a series of high-level regional meetings in July.
Foreign ministers from Asia and elsewhere, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meet to discuss mainly security issues on July 17-23 on the tourist island of Phuket, three months after anti-government protesters forced a regional summit in the Thai resort of Pattaya to be abandoned.
"We don't want to see another incident. These extra measures will guarantee the meetings run smoothly," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
He gave no details of what measures could be put in place on Phuket from July 10-24. In May, security agencies proposed a ban on rallies within a 5-km (3-mile) radius of the venue.
Phuket, more than 860 km (530 miles) from the capital, is a stronghold of Abhisit's Democrat Party, which heads a coalition government struggling to revive an economy hobbled by the global economic downturn and prolonged political strife at home.
He was forced to impose emergency rule in Bangkok for 12 days in April to quell street protests by red-shirted supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.
After a period of calm, more than 20,000 "red shirts" rallied in Bangkok on Saturday to call for a general election, but the demonstration passed off peacefully. [ID:nLR248954]
Their leaders say they have no intention of trying to disrupt the Phuket meetings. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Kittipong Soonprasert; Editing by Alan Raybould)
Foreign ministers from Asia and elsewhere, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meet to discuss mainly security issues on July 17-23 on the tourist island of Phuket, three months after anti-government protesters forced a regional summit in the Thai resort of Pattaya to be abandoned.
"We don't want to see another incident. These extra measures will guarantee the meetings run smoothly," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
He gave no details of what measures could be put in place on Phuket from July 10-24. In May, security agencies proposed a ban on rallies within a 5-km (3-mile) radius of the venue.
Phuket, more than 860 km (530 miles) from the capital, is a stronghold of Abhisit's Democrat Party, which heads a coalition government struggling to revive an economy hobbled by the global economic downturn and prolonged political strife at home.
He was forced to impose emergency rule in Bangkok for 12 days in April to quell street protests by red-shirted supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.
After a period of calm, more than 20,000 "red shirts" rallied in Bangkok on Saturday to call for a general election, but the demonstration passed off peacefully. [ID:nLR248954]
Their leaders say they have no intention of trying to disrupt the Phuket meetings. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Kittipong Soonprasert; Editing by Alan Raybould)
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