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Thousands march on Thai prime minister's office
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-14 09:57
Tens of thousands of protesters marched on the office of Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday, vowing to surround it until he quits.
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man walks past artworks as part of a demonstration against Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok, March 13, 2006.
[Reuters] |
The march, billed as the final showdown by an extra-parliamentary coalition
accusing Thaksin of corruption and abuse of power, began after an all-night
rally next to Bangkok's Grand Palace which was attended by around 40,000 people.
Many stayed all night and the crowd swelled rapidly as the march began under
a watchful police presence after a powerful indirect appeal from revered King
Bhumibol Adulyadej not to allow the protest to descend into violence, as others
in the past have.
At 8 a.m. (0100) police estimated the crowd at 70,000. Large numbers of
police were at Government House, where the cabinet was due to meet at 8.30 a.m.
(0130 GMT).
Chamlong Srimuang, the ascetic general who led a 1992 "people power" uprising
against a military government in which about 50 people were killed, said there
would be no trouble this time.
"We will march peacefully," he told the rally, to chants of 'Thaksin, get
out'. "You can be assured that nothing will happen. Do not be afraid."
His blue-clad "Dharma Army," or the Army of Buddha's Teachings -- barefoot
and carrying the red, white and blue Thai flag -- led the way out of the rally
ground to Government House about 5 km (3 miles) away.
Thaksin, who called snap elections on April 2 to defuse a campaign fueled by
the tax-free $1.9 billion sale by relatives of the business empire he founded,
would not be at the cabinet meeting. He was to chair it by video-link from the
provinces.
He said he would declare a state of emergency if necessary, which could bring
troops onto the streets of a country with a long and relatively recent history
of military intervention.
"We are prepared to declare a state of emergency if required," he told
reporters on the campaign trail in the northeast.
ROYAL SIGNAL
Previous rallies by the People's Alliance for Democracy, an
extra-parliamentary coalition which accuses Thaksin of corruption and abuse of
power, have been peaceful, even festive.
But 6,000 Thaksin supporters headed from northern Thailand to Bangkok in
tractors and trucks, fanning fears that yet again a Thai political confrontation
could turn into street violence.
Such fears clearly penetrated the royal palace and led to the screening on
all six Thai television channels on Sunday of footage of the King, a
constitutional monarch, talking in 1992 to the then prime minister and Chamlong
as they knelt before him.
Suchinda Kraprayoon, then head of a military-led government, quit after the
audience and peace returned to Bangkok's streets.
Military chiefs have been going out of their way over the past few weeks to
stress that they have no intention of intervening and that the era of coups is
over.
The anti-government campaign took off in late January when the tax-free sale
of the telecoms business empire Thaksin founded outraged Bangkok's middle
classes.
Thaksin hit back against what he says is "mob rule" by calling elections
three years early and accusing the three main opposition parties of betraying
democracy by boycotting them.
But the People's Alliance for Democracy, adamant Thaksin must go, and the
government, adamant he must stay, appeared to be on a collision course.
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