Pro-Thaksin protesters ring Thai Parliament

[December 29, 2008]  BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thousands of supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ringed Thailand's Parliament on Monday, vowing to remain until the new government dissolves the legislature and calls general elections.

The demonstrators dared lawmakers to pass through their ranks to deliver a mandated speech outlining the government's key policies.

"If they (lawmakers) want to go in, they have to walk through us, including the prime minister," one of the protest leaders, Chatuporn Prompan, told reporters outside the Parliament compound where demonstrators spent the night.

The demonstration sparked fears of renewed political turbulence, which paralyzed the previous government for months and climaxed with an eight-day seizure of Bangkok's airports. But the earlier protesters had been part of an anti-Thaksin alliance.

The latest round of protests could further batter the nearly moribund tourism industry, the country's no. 1 foreign currency earner, along with other economic sectors.

The current protest group -- which calls itself the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship -- said it would stay at Parliament until the government calls a snap election. The group had previously planned to stay for three days.

"We will celebrate New Year at Parliament," Chatuporn said.

The alliance has at least temporarily disrupted the government's plan to announce its policies, which by law it must do by Jan. 7. But legal experts say the government could argue for an extension because of the political turbulence.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said if the announcement could not be delivered Monday, attempts would be made to enter Parliament in the coming days -- but through negotiations and not the use of force.

"We wish to deliver the policy statements before the end of the year," he said.

The protesters -- dubbed the "red shirts" for their protest attire -- say new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Democrat Party came to power this month through a virtual coup d'etat.

The court ruling that dissolved the previous government -- which was packed with Thaksin allies -- and led to Abhisit's selection as prime minister came under pressure from the military and other powerful forces, the group says.

Several thousand protesters Monday camped out on the street leading to Parliament, clapping and cheering as singers and protest leaders chastised the incoming government. Many wore red T-shirts with the slogan "Truth Today" and carried signs that described Abhisit as a dictator.

"We are here for democracy," said Narumol Thanakarnpanich, a 53-year-old university professor from Bangkok. "We want a new government."

The scene resembled events in recent weeks, when yellow-shirted protesters opposed to Thaksin first took over the prime minister's residence and then the two main airports.

The demonstration had the same relaxed festival feel, with security forces largely leaving the protesters alone. Families lounged on the pavement and vendors hawked grilled chicken, skewers of squid and ice cream.

Chatuporn said the protesters were not blockading the building but those who wanted to enter would have to get out of their vehicles and walk through their lines.

The Oxford-educated, 44-year-old Abhisit was formally named prime minister Dec. 17 in what many hoped would be the end of months of turbulent, sometimes violent, protests that had their roots in a 2006 military coup that toppled Thaksin.

Thaksin and his backers retain strong support in rural areas but have lost ground recently as former loyalists defected to join Abhisit's government, behind which the powerful military and monarchist figures have thrown their weight.

Thaksin no longer seems the prime mover in the country's political arena after being forced out of England where he sought exile, and facing probable imprisonment should he return to Thailand -- although some still don't count him out.

Local media has speculated that Thaksin, once Thailand's richest man, has also taken heavy losses in the current financial crisis and no longer has the seemingly bottomless purse to support, and motivate, his backers.

Abhisit, the nation's third prime minister in four months, vowed in his inaugural address to reunite the deeply divided nation and to restore Thailand's tourist-friendly image. The eight-day airport shutdown battered the country's essential tourism industry and stranded more than 300,000 travelers.

Thailand's recent political convulsions began in August when anti-Thaksin protesters took over the seat of government to demand that Thaksin's allies resign. Since then, a series of court rulings have resulted in the ouster of two Thaksin-allied prime ministers.

In October, street clashes with police outside Parliament left two people dead and hundreds injured.

Military leaders accused Thaksin of corruption and ousted him in September 2006, keeping him in exile and controlling the country for an interim period until new elections in December 2007 brought Thaksin's allies back into power.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges but later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.

[Associated Press; By DENIS D. GRAY]

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