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DEFIANT THAI OPPOSITION protesters stormed the army headquarters and besieged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s party offices today, intensifying their fight to bring down her government.
Boisterous demonstrators have targeted key government buildings in Bangkok in the biggest street protests since mass rallies in 2010 degenerated into the kingdom’s worst civil strife in decades.
The protesters – a mix of royalists, southerners and the urban middle class sometimes numbering in their tens of thousands – are united by their loathing of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The controversial former telecoms tycoon was ousted in a coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile, but he is widely believed to be the real power behind the embattled government of his younger sister Yingluck.
An anti-government protester blows a giant whistle to a riot police officer outside the headquarters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s ruling Pheu Thai Party in Bangkok. (Image: Sakchai Lalit/AP/Press Association Images)
Protesters are demanding the end of the “Thaksin regime” and want to replace the government with an unelected “people’s council”.
Demonstrators forced open the gates of the army headquarters in Bangkok, calling on the military to support their fight to bring down the government.
Thousands of flag-waving demonstrators massed on the lawn inside the army compound in Bangkok’s historic district, sheltering under sun umbrellas.
“We want to know whether the army will stand by the people not a dictator,” said a protest leader, Amorn Amornrattananont.
Demonstrators also massed outside the headquarters of Yingluck’s Puea Thai party, setting up a tense standoff with riot police guarding the building.
Image: Wason Wanichakorn/AP/Press Association Images
The provocative twin-pronged move against key symbols of authority came a day after protesters cut off the electricity to the national police headquarters, ignoring Yingluck’s plea for calm after she won a parliamentary no confidence vote.
With their spirits buoyed by free food and a party atmosphere, demonstrators have massed at several locations around the capital, including outside many major government buildings.
Their numbers have fallen sharply since an estimated crowd of up to 180,000 people joined an opposition rally on Sunday.
But turnout is expected to spike again over the weekend as organisers seek a final push ahead of celebrations for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday on 5 December, which is traditionally marked in an atmosphere of calm and respect.
The carnival-like mood at the rallies masks deep divisions in Thai society that have erupted into political bloodshed on several occasions since Thaksin’s overthrow.
While the latest demonstrations have been largely peaceful, a minor clash broke out Thursday between pro- and anti-government supporters in the province of Pathum Thani on the northern outskirts of Bangkok, police said.
“Two anti-government supporters suffered minor injuries. They might have been hit with a wooden stick,” said provincial police commander Major General Smithi Mukdasanit.
A minor confrontation between the two sides was also reported in the northeastern province of Mahasarakam although nobody was injured.
Image: Wason Wanichakorn/AP/Press Association Images
Thaksin remains a hugely divisive figure seven years after he was deposed by royalist generals. Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election for more than a decade.
He is adored by many of the country’s rural and urban working class but hated by many southerners, middle-class Thais and the Bangkok elite, who see him as corrupt and a threat to the monarchy.
In a televised address Thursday, Yingluck urged demonstrators to call off their protesters and said the government did not want confrontation.
But a defiant rally leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, rejected any suggestion of talks in a tub-thumping late night speech that set a fresh deadline for the demos to reach their climax.
“Yingluck said the government can still govern, can still work – I want to say that they will only be able to work for a few more days, then we will not let them work anymore,” he told several thousand supporters in Bangkok.
The protests snowballed after the ruling party tried to introduce an amnesty that could have allowed Thaksin’s return from self-imposed exile, and the rallies have continued despite a Senate move to reject the bill.
Yingluck on Monday ordered special security measures to be expanded to cover all of the capital, although she has ruled out using force against the demonstrators.
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You have to admire their spirit, pity we didnt have some of it here and get rid our our sponging wasters in government.
To overthrow a democratically elected government?
Last time they had to resort to similar measures in order to kick out the corrupt government, one former British Ambassador to Thailand wrote a letter which was was in response to an article published in the Times.
“Former British ambassador to Thailand, Derek Tonkin, has expressed his support for the September 19 coup, suggesting that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is to blame for creating conditions that led to his removal.
In a letter to London-based The Times newspaper, published on Monday, Tonkin said Thaksin’s “wealth has become so immense and has been used so shamelessly to undermine political opponents and critics that his position had become virtually unassailable through the ballot box”.
Search google for further factual information about why the current protest is happening and will be the only way forward………untill a decent education is given to everyone in Thailand
I’ve spent a lot of time in Thailand and I admire how patriotic and proud the Thais are.
It is a shame that it is so corrupt. I never thought I was racist until we visited Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, never will again. It would have been safer walking through a riot. As many a visitor commented afterwards “So this is what it might of felt like for African Americans with the Kuklux Clan”, shame that they believe all Europeans are American.
A friend of mine went on to Laos and Cambodia for two or three by herself after our group came home from Malaysia. She had the best time ever and not one iota of trouble.
living in thailand. I work as a teacher in a city called Korat (4 to 5 hours north east of Bangkok) A few of my friends work in schools in Bangkok. they say the protestst were fine it first but in last few days getting worse. Apparantly the protesters gt paid to attend which is why more and more are joining everyday. I was meant to go to Bangkok for weekend but the school i work in were concerned so they cancelled the trip. tourists have been warned to exercise caution just. hoping that it won’t turn into a coup
Sorry Paul S
But I’ve travelled extensively throughout the countries you mention, many times. I’ve never experienced what you’ve described. The people of this region are gentle, kind and most decent. Just as many bad apples in Dublin city centre.
We probably have more, Kevin!
Me too, I love South East Asian countries, such beautiful places. I only had the odd bit of trouble, but you would get that anywhere. In general, Thai people are really sound. I hope they resolve their political issues peacefully soon.
One Night In Bangkok.
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