Bangkok protesters make final push to topple Yingluck Shinawatra Week of demonstrations against government turn violent, with two people killed during mass rally at university sports stadium Kate Hodal in Bangkok theguardian, Sunday 1 December 2013 11.05 GMT Jump to comments (0) An anti-government protester throws back a teargas canister during clashes with police near Bangkoks Government House. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters At least two people have been killed and over 50 injured after a week of anti-government protests in Bangkok turned violent. Thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets on Sunday in a final push to topple the embattled government. Some 30,000 protestors have gathered in various locations around the city to take part in the so-called peoples revolution, including government ministries, police headquarters, the prime ministers office and television stations, with the aim of wresting control from the PM, Yingluck Shinawatra, to install a peoples council. Sporting whistles, flags and anti-government banners, protestors at Government House – home to Yinglucks offices – were met with teargas as they repeatedly attempted to break through concrete barriers and razor wire protecting the compound. Teargas and water cannon were also used in two other areas in the city. Many central businesses, including five major shopping malls, were closed for the day. The demonstrations have seen thousands take to the streets to overthrow Yingluck, who the protesters believe is a puppet of her brother Thaksin, the former PM ousted in a military coup in 2006 who was widely accused of being an anti-monarchist. The tycoon lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai after being convicted of corruption charges he claims were politically motivated. The shootings on Saturday night occurred after scattered violence during the day. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters The current instability in Thailand hinges on an ill-conceived amnesty bill promoted by Yinglucks government as an attempt to help calm simmering tensions after the 2006 coup. But critics believed the bill would have seen Thaksins corruption conviction cleared and allowed the polarising former leader to return to Thailand. The prime minister herself was forced to flee to an unknown location after a planned press conference was scrapped when protestors stormed the building, Reuters reported. While wresting control of the media is often seen as standard practice during a coup, the group leading the protests, the Civil Movement for Democracy (CMD), said it was not occupying the stations but merely negotiating with them to air an afternoon speech by protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban. The managing director of Thai PBS, Somchai Suwanban, one of the stations taken over by protestors, however, insinuated otherwise: The longer the protestors occupy a public service TV, the more damage they have done to their pro-democracy claim, he tweeted. As protests continued late into Sunday afternoon, the governmentsaid it would send riot police to both the finance ministry and government complex in order to reclaim space from protestors, with unconfirmed reports of rubber bullets also being used against demonstrators. Unarmed troops were also sent to rescue stranded students from Ramkhamhaeng University, near the spot where at least two people were killed on Saturday night during attacks between anti-government protestors and redshirt government supporters in a sports stadium. The two dead were a 21-year-old student anti-government protestor and a 43-year-old redshirt guard, while 54 others were injured. Redshirt leaders attempted to reduce tensions by calling on their supporters to go home; many of them returned to their northern provinces by bus. The head of the army, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, has reportedly offered to mediate between the two sides, the English-language paper The Nation reported, but it is unclear what Suthep will do next, as he has ignored repeated calls by Yingluck for negotiation and insisted that laws must be broken for protestors to achieve their goal – a vague plan for a non-elected peoples council to run the country with the king as head of state. The current protests are the largest since the 2010 demonstrations that saw 2,000 injured and nearly 100 killed.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 11:26:15 +0000
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