Thai PM tightens security as protests escalate

BANGKOK - Thailand’s embattled premier on Monday invoked a special security law in the tense capital Bangkok and nearby areas after protesters stormed key ministries in a bid to topple the government.

The mass rallies against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, are the biggest since 2010 when more than 90 civilians were killed in a bloody military crackdown. The United States called for restraint on both sides and said it was monitoring the situation closely.

The turmoil has raised fears of a fresh bout of street violence in a country that has been convulsed by several episodes of political unrest since royalist generals overthrew Thaksin in a 2006 coup.

The special law, which had already been in force in several districts of the capital and is known as the Internal Security Act, gives the police additional powers to block routes, impose a curfew, ban gatherings and carry out searches.

Tens of thousands of protesters opposed to Yingluck’s elected government marched on more than a dozen state agencies across Bangkok, including military and police bases, as well as several television stations. Hundreds of demonstrators swarmed into finance ministry buildings and later forced their way into the foreign ministry compound, which were both apparently left unguarded by government security forces. Demonstrators broke down the gates to the foreign ministry and after occupying an area of the compound they asked civil servants to leave and not to return to work the next day, according to a ministry spokesman.

There was no immediate sign that the government was preparing to try to evict the demonstrators from the ministries, where they stayed into the night, despite Yingluck’s decision to impose the Internal Security Act in the entire capital.

“While the government will enforce the laws it will not use force against the people,” Yingluck said.

“The government would like to ask people not to join illegal protests and to respect the law,” she added.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban called for the occupation on Tuesday of “all government agencies”.

“The Thaksin system can no longer work,” he said, vowing to defy police warnings for the protesters to leave the ministry.

Some of the demonstrators had earlier called for the intervention of the military in a country that has seen 18 actual or attempted coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

A boisterous rally on Sunday brought up to 180,000 anti-government demonstrators to the streets of Bangkok, according to the National Security Council. Thousands of pro-government “Red Shirts” remain in a suburban football stadium in Bangkok in a show of support for Yingluck and Thaksin. The United States urged “all sides to refrain from violence, exercise restraint, and respect the rule of law”.

“Violence and the seizure of public or private property are not acceptable means of resolving political differences,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Running out of room to manoeuvre

The rallies are the biggest challenge yet for Yingluck, who swept to power in elections in 2011 thanks to support from the Red Shirts, whose protests in 2010 were crushed by the then-government led by the Democrat party. Yingluck on Monday told reporters she would neither resign nor dissolve parliament despite the mounting pressure. But experts said she is running out of room to manoeuvre. “It will be very difficult for Yingluck to stay in office, let alone get anything done,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. The Thai capital has faced weeks of opposition-backed rallies sparked by an amnesty bill that could have allowed the return of Thaksin from self-imposed exile.

The amnesty bill – which was rejected by the upper house of parliament – also angered Thaksin’s supporters because it would have pardoned those responsible for the 2010 military crackdown on their rallies.

Former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva – now the opposition leader – and his deputy Suthep face murder charges for overseeing the military operation.

The government said Monday that it might also seek an arrest warrant for Suthep after firearms and ammunition were found in the protest area.

[[nid:62336]]

The opposition Democrat Party is seeking to raise the pressure on Yingluck with a no-confidence debate on Tuesday – although her party dominates the lower house.

Thaksin, a billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician, draws strong support from many of the country’s rural and urban working class. But he is loathed by the elite and the middle classes, who accuse him of being corrupt and a threat to the monarchy.

“Yingluck, Thaksin, their party and their corrupt system must go this week,” demonstrator Thanabhum Prompraphan, 50, told AFP.

“We will stay peaceful... whistles are our weapons,” he said.

A series of protests by the royalist “Yellow Shirts” helped to trigger the coup that toppled Thaksin, who now lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a prison term for corruption that he contends was politically motivated.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 85, is widely revered in Thailand but has been in ill-health for several years and the palace has been silent over the organisation of his eventual succession.

[[nid:62336]]