Protesters will seize Bangkok, warns leader

Protesters will seize Bangkok, warns leader

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has declared that anti-government protesters will be out in force again and "seize Bangkok" after the New Year holiday ends on Thursday.

"We will not leave an inch of this capital city for the people of the Thaksin (Shinawatra) regime to stay in and take advantage of the people," said Suthep, who heads the self-styled People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).

With the stock market and the baht having already fallen, the prospect is making the business community even more nervous.

In its latest note, Kasikorn Research said that if the political stalemate continues into the second half of next year, Thailand's growth will be only 2.5 per cent, compared with 6.5 per cent last year.

With a large chunk of Bangkok's middle-class residents, who support the protests, out of the capital for a five-day festive break, the rally site was relatively quiet on Sunday.

But underlining the potential for sporadic violence, a giant firecracker was thrown at guards near the United Nations building, injuring three of them. This, a day after a member of a student network allied with the PDRC died in a drive-by shooting nearby.

The PDRC has said its supporters will clean the streets around the sprawling rally site today.

Meanwhile, the ruling Puea Thai party has begun putting up election posters, many of them featuring caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and urging people to vote on Feb 2.

However, for the second day running on Sunday, registration centres in eight southern provinces were blocked by PDRC protesters, preventing candidates from signing up for the election.

The mid-term election is a major sticking point, with the government determined to proceed with it and the PDRC determined to derail it. The PDRC says it wants the country run by an unelected people's council to institute reforms before an election is held.

Last Saturday night, it showed a short film in English appealing to "the world" for understanding.

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"We most certainly do (believe in democracy)," a female voice is heard saying over footage showing the PDRC's recent Bangkok rallies and marches.

"Just because we want to postpone the election, that doesn't mean that we are denying democracy. No, we simply want to clean up our house first."

A PDRC insider, who asked not to be named, sketched out the movement's plans to install its own government. This would be achieved by seizing TV stations and key government ministries, he told The Straits Times, in a shutdown that would last a few days.

"We will control Bangkok and the south and set up our own people's council and order bureaucrats to report to us," he said.

He admitted that if this happens, the army may be forced to intervene and seize power.

The Thai north-east and much of the north support the ruling Puea Thai party.

Bangkok and the south are strongholds of the Democrat Party, which is boycotting the Feb 2 election. The Democrats are strongly identified with the PDRC and its supporters, who are mainly the capital's conservative middle- and upper-class elites.

Last Friday, army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha indicated for the first time that the military may intervene. This may be welcomed by the royalist upper middle class, the PDRC's main supporters, but could ignite a backlash from the largely pro-Thaksin "red shirts".

Thailand scholar and author David Streckfuss, based in the north-eastern city of Khon Kaen, told The Straits Times: "There are myriad ways the election could be booby-trapped. And there is a chance the military will intervene."

But if this were to happen, Thais committed to democracy will not let it rest, he said.

nirmal@sph.com.sg


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