Thai protest leader flees police out hotel window

[April 20, 2010]  BANGKOK (AP) -- A leader of anti-government protesters escaped from Thai commandos Friday by sliding down a rope from his hotel and then vowed to hunt down the prime minister, raising fears the nation's political crisis could spark more bloodshed.

Arisman Pongruangrong drove off in a getaway car with two senior police officers taken hostage by his supporters, in the latest humiliation for the government, which less than 30 minutes earlier had announced on national television that police commandos had surrounded the hotel to arrest Arisman and other protest leaders.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva delayed a scheduled televised statement later Friday -- his first in four days -- after the botched raid.

Authorities have tried without success to end a month of demonstrations by tens of thousands of "Red Shirt" protesters in some of Bangkok's most popular shopping and tourist districts. At least 24 people were killed last week when troops tried to clear one group of protesters.

Friday's failed crackdown signaled the government was willing to risk another confrontation with the Red Shirts, who are mostly rural supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They are campaigning to oust Abhisit, dissolve Parliament and hold new elections.

But it only served to anger the Red Shirts, who immediately declared a "war" on the government.

"From now on our mission is to hunt down Abhisit. ... This is a war between the government and the Red Shirts," Arisman, a charismatic pop singer-turned-activist, told supporters after his escape.

Arisman, one of the more radical protest leaders, is wanted by police for leading an invasion of Parliament by hundreds of supporters on April 7 that forced lawmakers to scale a back wall to escape. VIPs were evacuated by helicopter. He had also led the storming of a Southeast Asian summit last year in the beach resort of Pattaya that forced the conference to be canceled.

On Friday, with a rope looped around his waist, Arisman climbed down from a third-story ledge at the hotel -- owned by Thaksin's family -- into a waiting crowd of cheering Red Shirt supporters.

Arisman then announced that the Red Shirts had seized two police officers -- a colonel and a major general -- as hostages to ensure his safety.

"I would like to thank all of the people who saved me -- you have helped save democracy," Arisman said.

A second Red Shirt leader was seen climbing out of a hotel window and down a tree. It was not immediately clear if he escaped.

Tens of thousands of Red Shirts have protested in Bangkok since March 12. They accuse the country's traditional ruling elite -- represented by Abhisit and his allies -- of orchestrating Thaksin's ouster in a 2006 military coup on corruption allegations. Thaksin is living in overseas exile to avoid a two-year prison term.

The protesters occupied two areas, one of which troops tried to clear last Saturday, leading to clashes that left 24 people dead and more than 800 injured in the worst political violence in nearly two decades.

The Red Shirts withdrew from that area Thursday and consolidated their forces at their second encampment in Bangkok's main upscale shopping and hotel district.

Earlier Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban announced on television that a crackdown was being launched on the Red Shirts. He accused "terrorist elements" of infiltrating the protesters to orchestrate Saturday's violence.

"The terrorists within the demonstrators used war weapons," Suthep said.

"I would like to ask innocent protesters to leave the demonstration area, in order to avoid being used as human shields," Suthep said. "The government from now on would like to carry out decisive legal measures against the Red Shirt leaders."

[Associated Press; By TASANEE VEJPONGSA]

Associated Press writers Kinan Suchaovanich, Jocelyn Gecker and Vijay Joshi contributed to this report.

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