New push to 'shut down' Bangkok on Jan 13

BANGKOK- Bangkok is bracing itself for fresh protests from today as anti-government activists attempt to ramp up a more than two-month-long campaign to force the caretaker government to resign.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban last night declared that his mass rally to "shut down" Bangkok will begin on Jan 13, with smaller marches planned in the lead up to the day. "We will stay in the streets and paralyse this proxy government," he said.

Yesterday - the last day of candidate registration for the Feb 2 general election - protesters continued to blockade selected venues in southern Thailand, with at least four out of 76 provinces facing registration problems.

The election commission, while not extending the deadline, plans to discuss what to do next.

Southern Thailand is a stronghold of the opposition Democrat Party, which has not won an election since 1992 and is boycotting these polls.

It has thrown its weight behind the anti-government campaign - led by former senior Democrat Suthep - which has vowed to block the polls to counter the electoral supremacy of the Puea Thai party.

Instead, it wants to first put in place political reforms that would rid the country of the influence of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is thought to control the government through his sister and caretaker prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Protesters have vowed to "seize Bangkok" after the New Year holidays, which would mean no end in sight to the unrest for ASEAN's second-largest economy, where the value of its currency has fallen and economic prospects have taken a hit.

Although Thai law requires at least 95 per cent of the Lower House to be filled before it can convene, analysts do not expect the registration process to be the biggest issue in the ongoing crisis.

Analyst Kan Yuenyong from Siam Intelligence Unit, a think- tank, said: "This is just one tool of the anti-Thaksin camp."

What could pose bigger hurdles are the impending "shutdown" of Bangkok planned by protesters, possible violence if polling goes ahead on Feb 2, and further street protests if a new government is formed after the polls, he said.

Tensions have flared and waned in the anti-government campaign which began in October in response to a Puea Thai-sponsored Bill that would grant amnesty to Thaksin for corruption convictions handed down in 2008.

Last week, two people - one a policeman - died after protesters tried to storm the election registration venue in Bangkok. It is believed that third parties are trying to provoke military intervention by stoking violence.

The military, which has attempted 18 coups, including one that overthrew Thaksin, has so far stayed on the sidelines though it has not ruled out a similar action.

Meanwhile, in Surat Thani, one of the southern provinces where registration was hampered, local officials reportedly resigned because of protesters' intimidation.

The capital yesterday was a picture of calm before the storm. Protesters had turned their rally site in inner Bangkok into a fun fair.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej in his traditional New Year message on Tuesday night said: "Everyone's wishes do not seem to be very different, either for their own sake or for the peace of the country."

Ms Yingluck, who is also caretaker defence minister, joined Thai military chiefs in Bangkok paying their new year respects to privy council chief Prem Tinsulanonda yesterday. She also met crowd control policemen handling the protests.

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