BANGKOK (Reuters) — Anti-government
demonstrators in Thailand resumed street protests on Monday after lying
low for weeks, piling pressure on increasingly beleaguered Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is expected to face impeachment within
days.
Her opponents were emboldened by a Constitutional Court decision
on Friday to nullify last month's election, delaying the formation
of a new administration and leaving Yingluck in charge of a
caretaker government with limited powers.
Yingluck's opponents first took to the streets in late November.
Twenty-three people were killed and hundreds wounded in the
political violence before the protests began to subside earlier this
month. But the court ruling appears to have given her foes a second
wind.
The protests are the latest instalment of an eight-year political
battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist
establishment against the mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and
her billionaire brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was
ousted in a 2006 coup.
There are growing fears that Thailand could be heading towards
serious civil unrest. After months of restraint, Thaksin's "red
shirt" supporters have begun making militant noises under hardline
new leaders.
They plan a big rally on April 5, possibly in Bangkok, and the
political atmosphere is expected to become even more highly charged
in coming days.
Yingluck has until March 31 to defend herself before the National
Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for dereliction of duty over a
ruinous rice-buying scheme that has run up huge losses.
If the commission recommends her impeachment, she could be removed
from office by the upper house Senate, which is likely to have an
anti-Thaksin majority after an election for half its members on
March 30.
In a sign of the potential trouble ahead, one hundred red shirts
blocked entrances to the NACC's offices in north Bangkok with
sandbags on Monday to prevent officials there from working as police
formed a wall to stop the group from facing off with anti-government
protesters gathered nearby.
Earlier, red shirt supporters attacked a Buddhist monk, slightly
injuring him, near the NACC offices after he insulted them for
blocking a road in front of the complex.
CLOCK TICKING
The Constitutional Court annulment of the election could offer a way
out of the political stalemate if the main opposition Democrat
Party, which boycotted the February 2 poll, decides to run in a
fresh vote. So far, however, the Democrat Party has given no clear
indication on what it plans to do.
The Election Commission, which is in charge of organizing the new
poll, met on Monday to decide how to proceed. Its chairman has said
it would take at least three months to organize a new vote once a
date is agreed.
It is increasingly uncertain whether Yingluck will last that long,
due to the mounting legal challenges.
The prospect of her removal
has bolstered the confidence of protest leaders.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has said he will lead a march every
day this week to urge supporters to join a "massive" rally in
Bangkok on Saturday to press for political reforms before a new vote
takes place.
"Our rally will be the biggest signal to Yingluck Shinawatra and the
Thaksin regime that the Thai public does not want elections before
reforms," Suthep said in a speech on Sunday.
His supporters prevented voting in 28 constituencies on February 2,
providing grounds for the Constitutional Court to annul the
election. Yingluck's supporters say the court, set up after the 2006
coup that removed her brother, has a record of ruling against
parties linked to the former premier.
At the height of the protests more than 200,000 people took to the
streets to demand Yingluck's resignation and to try to rid the
country of the influence of Thaksin, whom they accuse of nepotism.
The protesters want an unelected "people's council" installed to
oversee electoral changes that would, among other things, prevent
close Thaksin allies from running for office.
(Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Chaiwat Subprasom;
editing by Alan Raybould and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Her opponents were emboldened by a Constitutional Court decision
on Friday to nullify last month's election, delaying the formation
of a new administration and leaving Yingluck in charge of a
caretaker government with limited powers.
