The billionaire tycoon-turned-politician has strong electoral support in northern Thailand, but he is reviled by many southerners, Bangkok’s middle class and members of the royalist establishment. The recent rallies were triggered by a failed amnesty bill that could have allowed Thaksin to return without going to jail for a past corruption conviction. The protests are the latest chapter in a years-old political crisis that has gripped Thailand since Yingluck’s older brother, fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by royalist generals in 2006. While there was the usual Thai carnival atmosphere, protests in the kingdom have a history of suddenly turning bloody, often at night and sometimes involving unidentified gunmen seeking to incite violence.Įight people, including a policeman, have been killed and dozens injured in street violence since the protests began over two months ago.įanning tensions, several shots were fired in a drive-by shooting at the headquarters of the opposition Democrat Party early yesterday, while elsewhere a protest security guard was shot and wounded in a quarrel, police said. The city’s subway and skytrain were running as usual, shops and restaurants were open and demonstrators promised to leave a lane unblocked at each major intersection to allow ambulances and buses to pass. Many schools were closed and some residents stockpiled food and water, but the city of roughly 12mn people - which has grown accustomed to large political rallies in recent years - did not grind to a complete halt. Within hours of launching the shutdown, the movement succeeded in bringing widespread disruption to Bangkok’s central retail and hotel districts, large swathes of which were taken over by whistle-blowing demonstrators. “As anti-government protesters intensify actions, the risk of violence across wide swathes of the country is growing and significant,” it said in a report. The International Crisis Group think-tank warned yesterday of a “potentially catastrophic” situation if people are denied the chance to vote. The government said it would invite all sides to a meeting tomorrow to discuss the election commission’s proposal to postpone the February 2 election, although it looks unlikely to agree to the demonstrators’ demand for a delay of at least a year. “Today will be written in Thai history,” firebrand protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told a rally last night, vowing to intensify the shutdown until the government falls.Ī hardcore faction of the movement has threatened to besiege the stock exchange and even air traffic control if Yingluck does not quit within days. The well-organised protest movement has vowed to occupy parts of the capital until Yingluck quits, threatening to disrupt a February election which it fears will only return the Shinawatra clan to power.
Besiege intersection free#
Tens or even hundreds of thousands of flag-waving protesters massed at key intersections in the city, setting up rally stages along with tents for sleeping and stalls offering free food. The demonstrators want Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign to make way for an unelected “people’s council” that would oversee reforms to curb the political dominance of herbnaire family and tackle a wider culture of money politics.
Huge crowds of Thai opposition protesters occupied major streets in central Bangkok yesterday in an attempted “shutdown” of the capital, escalating a campaign to unseat the embattled premier. Anti-government protesters block a major intersection in Bangkok’s shopping district yesterday.
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