Protesters clash with police, troops at Ratchaprasong

bangkokpost.com

6/04/2010

Red-shirt protesters pushed against the lines of police and soldiers deployed to prevent them leaving Ratchaprasong intersection to stage protests on banned roads on Tuesday morning.

Protesters pushed and shoved and pelted police with eggs and plastic water bottles. Some used batons to hit the helmeted riot police on their heads.

The brief clash occurred around 11am near the Four Seasons Hotel, not long after additional riot police were deployed in the commercial district.

Tension eased after police bowed to the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leadership’s demand for security personnel to move further away from the red-shirt rally at Ratchaprasong intersection.

This followed talks between UDD core figure Natthawut Saikua and Metropolitan Police Division 5 commander Anuchai Lekbamrung. Police agreed to retreat to a base near the Ratchadamri skytrain station. The skytrain operator announced the Ratchadamri station had been closed for the day

Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), said on national television that security forces have stepped up pressure on the red-shirt protesters to leave Ratchaprasong intersection but would not use force to disperse them.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Bureau Piya Utayo said soldiers and police were involved in the operation to  pressure the protesters to leave the business district and rally somewhere else.

The authorities would inform the protesters occupying Ratchaprasong, which is a commercial district, that they were breaking the law, he said.

« And there is no need for those who are at home to come to Ratchaprasong because we are not hurting anyone, » he added. « The authorities are not armed. We will just go in and negotiate with them. »

After the brief clash, UDD leader Kwanchai Praipana announced that the leaders had decided to cancel their plan to mobilise to 11 key roads declared off-limits by the government.

Mr Kwanchai said the UDD scrapped the plan as they needed to monitor the situation at Ratchaprasong intersection.

« We will not enter the 11 banned routes yet as there have been reports that police and soldiers are preparing to disperse us at Ratchaprasong, » Mr Kwanchai said.

But at 1pm, red-shirt leader Nattawut Saikua reversed the decision and ordered the protesters to mobilise to 11 banned roads in a total defiance of the government.

He told them to break any barriers preventing them from entering the areas, and asked Mr Kwanchai and Suporn Attawong to lead the protesters.

The UDD core members then called on the red-shirts at Phan Fa bridge to join forces with the demonstrators at the business area.

Mr Kwanchai said the red-shirt’s Rak Udon (We Love Udon) group will remain at Phan Fa to protect the rally site.

Mr Suporn said the red-shirts were ready to counter any attempt by security forces to drive them out of Ratchaprasong.

« If the soldiers and police try to drive us out of Ratchaprasong the red-shirts from Phan Fa bridge will surround them.

« A group of red-shirts will also converge on the Democrat Party’s head office, » Mr Suporn said.

The Democrat Party, now led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, was founded 64 years ago today, on April 6, 1946.

This photo gallery shows scuffle at Ratchaprasong

Thai rebels in street clashes

herald.ie

Tuesday April 06 2010

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Thai police and military troops trying to prevent them from leaving Bangkok’s commercial district today to stage protests elsewhere in the capital.

The demonstrators pushed against police lines and pelted the riot squads with eggs and plastic water bottles along a tree-lined boulevard near the Four Seasons Hotel.

Protest leaders, who want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to relinquish power, vowed to stage convoys through 11 main city roads the administration has declared off-limits. The government restated that it wanted to solve the crisis peacefully.

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Prosecutors said Hernandez was driving an SUV at twice the speed limit when it crashed into a pickup truck carrying the two women, then into an ice cream store in the east-Denver suburb.

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Thai protesters clash with riot police

AP

6 4 2010

BANGKOK — Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Thai police and military troops trying to prevent them from leaving from the capital’s commercial district Tuesday to stage protests elsewhere in Bangkok.

The demonstrators pushed against police lines and pelted the riot squads with eggs and plastic water bottles along a tree-lined boulevard in front of the Four Seasons Hotel.

Protest leaders have defied a government order to vacate the commercial heart of Bangkok as they try to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to relinquish power. They vowed Tuesday to stage convoys through 11 main city roads the administration has declared off-limits to them.

« We will teach the government a lesson — that every road belongs to the people, » said a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua.

About 1,000 riot police and soldiers faced off against a similar number of protesters as luxury hotels in the area barricaded their doors, guests taking photographs from a safe distance.

Some of the protesters clambered atop police trucks parked across the road to block the demonstrators. The light overhead railway that runs above Rajdamri Road was shut down by the operators.

« We were going to see a movie, » said Les Stanley, a 55-year-old Australian resident in Bangkok. « Oh well, this is more interesting than a movie. »

The government restated that it wanted to solve the crisis peacefully.

« Under the current climate, many citizens wouldn’t want violence to take place or confrontation. And we’ve been mindful of that concern, » government spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn said as the clashes began.

Business leaders have called for an end to the crisis, predicting even greater shocks to the economy and tourism if it persists.

More than a dozen shopping malls were set to close their doors for the fourth day in Bangkok’s luxury shopping district, which includes five-star hotels like the Four Seasons, the Hyatt and InterContinental. Guests at the hotels there were checking out in greater numbers.

« The protests have hit thousands of entrepreneurs as well as their staff and employees because (the area) is a prime shopping and tourist location, » said a joint statement by three leading business associations in the district, which estimated losses in the area since the occupation began at up to 900 million baht ($28 million).

The « Red Shirt » protesters, mostly farmers from impoverished provincial areas who have characterized their movement as a class war against the Bangkok elite, have sworn not to let up their pressure until Abhisit steps down and calls new elections. Abhisit has offered to call elections by the year’s end, but the protesters want quicker action.

The movement — known formally as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship — contends that Abhisit came to power illegitimately in the years after ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was removed in a 2006 coup on corruption allegations. The group is made up largely of Thaksin supporters and pro-democracy activists who opposed the putsch.

So far, the government has refrained from using force against them despite pressure from segments of the Bangkok population fed up by business losses and disruption to daily life.

Allies of Thaksin — whose policies of cheap health care and low-interest village loans benefited the rural poor from which many of the protesters are drawn — won the first elections after the coup but two resulting governments were forced out by court rulings. A parliamentary vote brought Abhisit’s party to power in December 2008. The Red Shirts say his rule is undemocratic and that only new elections can restore integrity to Thai democracy.

Abhisit must call new elections by the end of 2011, and many believe Thaksin’s allies are likely to win — which could spark protests by Thaksin’s opponents.

Thaksin, a multimillionaire convicted in absentia on corruption-related charges, is a fugitive abroad and encourages the Red Shirts with frequent messages. His six years in office were riddled by accusations of nepotism and an erosion of democratic institutions.

Thaïlande: les opposants continuent de manifester dans le quartier commercial

ASSOCIATED PRESS

05 avril 2010 10:06

Par Kinan Suchaovanich, BANGKOK – Des milliers d’opposants au gouvernement thaïlandais ont continué à manifester lundi à Bangkok, outrepassant les ordres de la police de quitter le principal quartier commercial de la capitale, entièrement paralysé.

Le Premier ministre Abhisit Vejjajiva continue de résister aux pressions des « Chemises rouges », partisans de l’ex-Premier ministre Thaksin Shinawatra renversé par l’armée en 2006, après quatre semaines de manifestations dans la capitale pour obtenir la dissolution du Parlement et la tenue d’élections législatives.

Sous la menace d’arrestations, les manifestants avaient annoncé dimanche leur départ du principal quartier commercial de Bangkok, Siam Square. Mais l’un des meneurs de la mobilisation contre le gouvernement, Jatuporn Prompan, a indiqué lundi que les manifestants maintiendraient une présence dans ce quartier, où de nombreux magasins, bureaux et banques étaient restés fermés, ainsi que dans le quartier historique de Bangkok, où ils campent depuis le 12 mars.

D’autres rassemblements se sont tenus ailleurs dans la capitale lundi. Environ 10.000 personnes ont ainsi marché jusqu’au siège de la Commission électorale, et une centaine d’entre elles ont occupé les lieux, avant de se retirer à l’appel de leur leader, Kwanchai Praipana.

Suite à cette action, la Commission a accepté d’avancer du 30 au 20 avril l’examen d’une requête de l’opposition affirmant que le Parti démocrate, la formation d’Abhisit Vejjajiva, a enfreint la loi électorale en acceptant l’année dernière un don de l’ordre de huit millions de dollars (près de six millions d’euros) de la part d’un conglomérat thaïlandais. La loi interdit tout don supérieur à 300.000 dollars (222.000 euros).

Les manifestations des « Chemises rouges » ce week-end dans le quartier commercial de Bangkok ont conduit à la fermeture de six centres commerciaux, ainsi qu’au renforcement de la sécurité dans plusieurs hôtels de luxe. La perte économique est évaluée à environ 15 millions de dollars par jour (11 millions d’euros).

Face à cette situation, le gouvernement a déposé une requête devant la justice pour obtenir le départ des manifestants et les empêcher d’envahir d’autres axes principaux de Bangkok. La date d’examen de cette requête n’a pas encore été annoncée.

Par ailleurs, Jatuporn Prompan a menacé lundi les entreprises qui ne couperaient pas leurs liens avec le pouvoir en place, prévenant qu’elles auraient « de gros problèmes » si elles poursuivaient leur coopération avec le gouvernement.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 6 avril 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots