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Thai political deadlock after red street parade

Politically riven Thailand was in a stalemate Saturday as protesters, buoyed by a huge parade across the capital, refused talks with the government announced earlier by the prime minister.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said anti-government “Red Shirt” protesters had agreed to talks with a government minister, as they bolstered their week-long rally with a carnival-like convoy that police said swelled to 65,000 people.

But upon returning to their main rally site, after waving flags and honking horns in a bid to win over Bangkok residents, the mainly rural supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra stood firm in their demands.

“We will talk only with Abhisit,” leader Jatuporn Prompan told the cheering crowd, reiterating their call for immediate elections.

Abhisit earlier said senators had arranged for a meeting on Monday between minister Satit Wonghnongtaey, government official Korbsak Sabhavasu and two senior Red Shirts.

“It’s difficult to say anything in advance but at least it’s good to start talks,” the prime minister told reporters, as the colourful convoy of trucks, cars and motorbikes brought traffic to a halt in parts of the city.

The protesters, largely from poor northern areas, say Abhisit’s government is illegitimate as it came to power with army backing via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling removed Thaksin’s allies.

“We will talk only with Abhisit and with the condition of house dissolution,” Nattawut Saikur told reporters after the day-long parade across the capital. He denied the Reds were “closing the door”.

In what they have increasingly dubbed a “class war”, the Reds say they are fighting Thailand’s elite in bureaucratic, military and palace circles, whom they accuse of ousting elected governments.

Their noisy convoy was designed to recruit urban support and revive the so-far peaceful rally, which had begun to wane after peaking at more than 100,000 people last weekend.

“We succeeded on our caravan today. We were warmly received and welcomed by Reds and also many people of other coloured shirts,” Nattawut said.

Abhisit, who has spent most of the rally holed up in an army barracks due to security fears, criticised the evocation of class struggle, saying it “incited social unrest”.

He said Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, was an “obstacle to negotiation” between the government and Red Shirts.

The ex-premier, who lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, spoke to supporters via videolink on Saturday night, thanking those who took part in the convoy. “I’m really proud of you. I almost cried,” he said.

“Today I want to invite everyone to join us to call for democracy. You don’t have to wear red, but just have one ideology: democracy.”

Authorities warned Bangkok residents to stay at home on Saturday and 1,000 traffic police officers were deployed along the 60 kilometre (37 mile) route.

A 50,000-strong security force has been in place in Bangkok and surrounding areas.

The protesters picketed the military base housing Abhisit on Monday and on Wednesday threw bags of their blood at the walls of his home, after a similar stunt at his office a day earlier.

On Sunday morning, artists will paint the remaining blood on a white canvas, Nattawut said.

Since Thaksin’s ouster, Thailand has been rocked by protests by both his supporters and his opponents, many of whom are

in Bangkok and accuse him of corruption and of disloyalty to the revered royal family.

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Abhisit questions Thaksin’s role as leader of ‘class war’

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday questioned fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s self-proclaimed role as leader of the “lowly peasants” in the red shirts’ class war.

“Thailand no longer has social classes called ammart and phrai. People are equal under the Constitution although they have unequal opportunities,” the premier told TV Channel 5, referring to the terms used by Thaksin and his red-shirt supporters.

Under the old absolute monarchy, ammart was used refer to bureaucrats and phrai to commoners.

“Is Thaksin an ammart or a phrai? He was prime minister and super-rich. Over the five years Khun Thaksin was prime minister, the country saw public debts increase twofold while his wealth rose twofold.

Inequality is normal in any society, but it should not be used to incite hatred in society,” Abhisit said.

He said he had seen contrasting photos in a newspaper of protesters sleeping on the road and of Thaksin and his children in a foreign country.

“It’s the duty of every government to solve the chronic problem of social inequality. But it is not easy. My government is also trying to solve the problem,” Abhisit said.

The premier asked whether Thaksin had tried to solve the problem of inequality between ammart and phrai while serving as prime minister between 2001 and 2006.

Abhisit said that in addition to implementing policies aimed at reducing economic gaps between people in society, his government is pushing for the introduction of the country’s first land and property tax.

“This can help reduce the gap between people who have large amounts of land and those who have no land at all,” he added.

Thaksin did not respond directly to Abhisit but said in his video-link to his supporters last night that he had been asked by Bangkokians not to use the word phrai.

“May I ask the core leaders of the red shirts that because people in Bangkok don’t like the word, can we change to call ourselves ‘ordinary citizens’ instead,” he said.

He explained that the term phrai was used in feudal society to refer to peasants, as opposed to the “nobles” and “blue bloods”.

The ex-PM urged the nation’s aristocrats to give justice to the people and not to please only one side but to love both sides – yellow and red – equally.

“The reds and yellows at the beginning emerged from a minor conflict, but now the divide is so deep because the aristocrats have a bias against one side,” he said.

“One side can violate the law while the other never receives justice,” he said.

Such prejudice will never solve the problem, but will create more red-shirted people, he said. “The red-shirted people will never become extinct,” he said.

“Don’t think I have a lot of money [to hire them]; you have robbed me of Bt40 billion,” he said. “I have earned money because I have a brain – and my brain is useful, not dangerous.”

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Minister Confirms Reports on Plot to Kill PM

The Prime Minister’s Office minister admits there have been reports on a plot to assassinate the premier.

Prime Minister Office’s Minister Sathit Wong-nongtoey said he has received reports on planned assassination of the prime minister but he is still unsure which party has engineered the plot.

Commenting on the red-shirt group’s splattering of blood at the prime minister’s residence, Sathit said such a move was not appropriate and he noted the group was running its campaign without a certain direction.
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Sathit insisted the prime minister still has no policy to crack down on the demonstration or take legal action against the group’s core leaders.

Sathit also revealed the national peacekeeping center was worried about the red-shirt protesters’ current direction-less moves without good coordination by their leaders.

The minister also said the society will not support the claim by fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra that the red-shirt protest is a class struggle.

He reiterated the the Internal Security Act is still sufficient to contain the rally while the government will exercise restraint

Sathit today accepted an open letter from the Non-violence Network and media representatives calling for a wide exchange of the viewpoints to seek a solution for political crisis and the way to have a fair election.

He assured them the government will not use force in handling the protesters as they are not its enemies but it will seek viewpoints on the political crisis through parliamentary means.

He pledged to forward their demands and advises to the prime minister.

Chiang Mai chokes from burning farms

The thick haze blanketing the North for days has forced Chiang Mai International Airport to turn on its runway lights and the Northern Royal Rainmaking Operations Centre to attempt more cloud-seeding flights.

Surapol Leelawaroros, director of the 16th conservation area’s forest-fire operation division, said this year has already seen 1,502 wildfires damaging 10,695 rai of forestland.

Doi Saket district fought the most fires at 167, followed by Hot district at 166 and Chom Thong at 158.

This figure was slightly up from last year’s 1,335 fires ruining 9,215 rai of forestland in the same period, he said.

Bush fires were not as worrisome as the outdoors fires lit intentionally by people for slash-and-burn farming, which was their way of life. These practices blurred the authority’s anti-smog campaign.

Although Chiang Mai City residents could not see the summit of Doi Suthep mountain clearly as usual, airport director Wisit Eiwprapha said the haze didn’t interfere with landings and takeoffs or cause flight cancellations.

The visibility was still regarded as normal. However, runway lights were turned on to improve aviation visibility.

Song Klinpathum, chief of the Northern Royal Rainmaking Operations Centre, said his office has followed the smoke situation intensely and plans to make artificial rain to alleviate the problem.

Their operation since March 11 managed to produce only drizzles in Chiang Rai and Phayao on March 15 since the high humidity and updrafts were not conducive to precipitation, he said.

Because Chiang Mai was smothered in smog yesterday, the centre would adjust the flight zone to better cover Chiang Mai, Lampang and Lamphun so there should be some showers later in the day to wash down the fine dust.

Environmental Office Region 2 in Lampang said all six of its automated air quality measuring stations – four in Lampang, one each in Phayao and Phrae – had detected fine particle dust exceeding the standard of 120 milligrams per cubic metre.

In Lampang, the station at the City Pillar Shrine measured 180mcgs and the other in Mae Mo district registered 156.5mcgs.

While Phrae had only 80mcgs, Phayao showed up to 259.8mcgs, he said.

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Thai PM rejects protesters’ demand amid march on barracks

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday rejected an ultimatum by tens of thousands of protesters to dissolve parliament as they marched on a military barracks sheltering the government.

The demonstrators, loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, demanded Abhisit call new elections or face mounting protests, prompting military officials to boost troop numbers and put in place evacuation plans.

“The protesters have demanded that I dissolve the house before midday (0500 GMT) today, but the coalition parties agree the demand cannot be met,” Abhisit said on national television, from the barracks.

“Elections must be held under common rules and genuine calm. We have to listen to other people’s voices, not just the protesters,” he said.

Abhisit left the army base by helicopter immediately after his announcement, saying he wanted to inspect the city traffic, snarled up by the moving rally.

The first group of red-clad protesters had earlier arrived at the barracks where Abhisit had been staying along with key ministers and military top brass.

At least 86,000 so-called Red Shirts had been gathered since Saturday at a rally ground close to government offices in Bangkok’s historic quarter, where soldiers and riot police have been deployed under a strict security law.

The Red Shirts travelled in convoy to the barracks on the capital’s northern outskirts in trucks, buses, cars and pick-up trucks, promising non-violence and vowing to return to the main rally after their doorstep.

“We will come back here. We’ll keep fighting,” Nattawut told the cheering red-clad crowd before it departed.

Thai army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said about 2,000 soldiers were manning the 11th infantry army barracks, with three helicopters on standby to whisk leaders away if needed.

“We will push out the protesters if they trespass into the base. The final step is that rubber bullets would be fired at them, but the army has no wish to disperse the demonstration,” Sunsern insisted.

The Red Shirts had dubbed their rally a “million man march” but police estimated their numbers reached only 86,000. Protest leaders gave various figures all far higher than 100,000.

Authorities have deployed a 50,000-strong security force including soldiers and riot police across Bangkok and surrounding provinces for the rally, under a strict law that allows authorities to ban gatherings and impose curfews.

The Red Shirts are loyal to populist former prime minister Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Twice-elected Thaksin is loathed by Bangkok’s establishment, which accuses him of corruption and disloyalty to the revered royal family.

Last month Thailand’s top court confiscated 1.4 billion dollars of the telecoms tycoon’s wealth and he addressed the crowd by video link late Sunday, urging his supporters to press on.

“I ask all Red Shirts not to give up. Don’t worry about me. This is not a one-person issue, we all fight for justice. I am the victim of bullies among the elites,” Thaksin said from an unspecified location in Europe.

Since the coup in 2006, Thailand has been racked by a string of protests by the Red Shirts and their rival Yellow Shirts, whose campaign in 2008 led to a crippling nine-day blockade of the country’s airports.

The current rally is the largest in Bangkok since the Reds rioted in April last year, leaving two dead and scores injured.

Thaksin still banned from entering Germany: German envoy

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would not be able to see his two daughters in Germany as he has been banned from the country since last year, German Ambassador to Thailand Hanns Schumacher said Sunday.

Thaksin tweeted he would leave Dubai to see his daughters Pinthongtha and Paethongthan Shinawatra somewhere in Europe soon.

His two daughters are now in Germany for a business engagement.

Thaksin was banned from Germany as he illegally obtain one-year residency last year, the German envoy said in a telephone interview.

However there was so far no information that Thaksin tried to enter German since then, the ambassador said.

Asked if it is possible that Thaksin would enter Germany with under different name, Schumacher said there are many illegal entries in the country but in that case the German authorities need to enforce the laws.

“So far, we are not aware of movement of former Prime Minister Thaksin to Germany since he has been banned,” he said.

Responding to a query if Thaksin is found in Germany, the envoy said Thaksin would be dealt with according to German immigration laws.

Thaksin’s whereabouts was under Thai government’s surveillance since his red shirted supporters held a huge demonstration in Bangkok.

For the government concern, Thaksin might use any country for a launching PAD against Thailand.

The Cambodian government, which Thaksin is an economic advisor, denied a news report earlier of Thaksin’s presence in Cambodia.

Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Koy Kuong was quoted by Xinhua Saturday that Cambodia has received no information that Thaksin is planning to come to Cambodia.

He said since Friday afternoon, following reports from the Thai press many, inquiries were asked on the presence of Thaksin in Cambodia.