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Thousands March Against Thai Leader in 3rd Day of Protests
Thousands March Against Thai Leader in 3rd Day of Protests
(about 5 hours later)
BANGKOK — Thousands of antigovernment protesters opposed to elections marched through a main commercial and business district in Bangkok on Wednesday, the third day of what they call the shutdown of the city.
BANGKOK — With no sign of resolution to Thailand’s debilitating political power struggle, anti-government protesters marched through Bangkok on Wednesday pledging to stop upcoming elections while the government vowed that they would take place.
Highlighting the threat of violence in the deeply polarized country, a protester was injured in a shooting and the compound of a former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was damaged by a small explosion. Mr. Abhisit, the head of the Democrat Party, which is allied with the protesters and is boycotting the elections, was not home at the time of the blast. Both the shooting and the explosion occurred overnight.
Wednesday was the third day of the “Bangkok shut down,” a campaign by protesters to block major intersections in the city and show that the government has lost “legitimacy.”
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the main target of the protesters, said Tuesday that she was “protecting democracy” and would not resign.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who called elections last month in a failed attempt to defuse the crisis, presided over a political forum on Wednesday meant to be a concession to her opponents to discuss the possibility of postponing the election.
“Democracy belongs to the entire Thai people,” she said in a Twitter message.
But in a sign of the distrust and the highly fractious political atmosphere in the country, the protest leaders, the opposition Democrat Party and the Election Commission all refused to take part in the meeting.
Ms. Yingluck’s party is despised by many southerners and members of the Thai elite, but it remains popular in the northern half of the country and is widely expected to win scheduled elections.
Ms. Yingluck said it was “regrettable” that the Election Commission “refused to show up” although the secretary general of the organization attended as an observer. The governing party has accused the commission of lacking independence and being overly politicized.
The leader of the protests, Suthep Thaugsuban, who has been charged by the authorities with rebellion, threatened on Tuesday to “close all government offices” if Ms. Yingluck did not step down in the coming days.
Phuchong Nutawong, the secretary-general of the Election Commission, was quoted as saying the commission was “ready to arrange” the election on Feb. 2.
“And if she remains stubborn, we will take custody of the prime minister and all ministers,” he said to a cheering crowd at a major Bangkok intersection blocked by protesters. Mr. Suthep advised government ministers to “send their wives and children to somewhere so that they can escape when the emergency takes place.”
Ms. Yingluck’s party would almost certainly win the election. The Democrat Party, which has not won an election in more than two decades, is boycotting and has allied itself with the protesters.
Protesters are demanding the “eradication” from politics of Ms. Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon and former prime minister. Ms. Yingluck called elections, scheduled for Feb. 2, as an early response to the protests. But the demonstrators are opposed, arguing that the vote would provide the Shinawatra clan greater domination of the political system. They would like, instead, to institute an alternative form of government involving an unelected “people’s council” that would replace Parliament.
Highlighting the threat of violence in the deeply polarized country, a protester was injured in a shooting Wednesday morning and the compound of a former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was damaged by a small explosion. Mr. Abhisit, the head of the Democrat Party, was not home at the time of the blplainclothesain-clothes police officers were hospitalized overnight after being beaten by the protesters, according to the police. The government has been praised by foreign governments for its restraint in handling the protests but police officers recently held their own protest demanding more protection. One police officer was shot dead last month as protesters tried to block the registration for elections.
The demonstrators say they hope to show the impotence of the government by paralyzing parts of the capital — and they appear to have partially achieved this goal. But it remains to be seen how long they can sustain their protests, especially if businesses and residents inconvenienced by street blockades turn against them.
In two months of protests, a total of eight people have been killed and more than 477 injured.
Political observers say there are no angels among the leading personalities involved in the standoff.
On Wednesday, one of the leading intellectuals supporting the protests explained his rationale for the demonstrations, which have divided the society between northern Thailand — which largely supports the government — from southern Thailand and members of the middle and upper classes in Bangkok, who are seeking to banish Ms. Yingluck and her family from the country.
Mr. Thaksin has been accused several times of using the powers of the state — and the weight of his political party — to further his personal interests. When he was in power from 2001 to 2006, Mr. Thaksin intimidated the media and sought to control many government institutions that are meant to be independent.
Thirayuth Boonmee, one of the few prominent scholars to overtly back the protesters, said a “tsunami of corruption” had created “anarchy” in Thai society.
Mr. Suthep, a career politician and former deputy prime minister, says he is fighting to banish corruption and the Shinawatra clan. But he has been embroiled in a number of corruption scandals himself. In addition, when he was in power in 2010 a crackdown against protesters supporting Mr. Thaksin left more than 90 people dead, and Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has said he was among those “ordering the military to use live ammunition against protesters.”
“The principle of one person, one vote must not be violated,” he said. “However, when the elected government is corrupt, it can of course be overthrown.”
He faces murder charges but has said he is innocent. He has not appeared in court, he says, because he is too busy leading the protests.
Mr. Thirayuth echoed the view of the protest leaders in saying the driving force behind corruption in Thai society was Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister and Ms. Yingluck’s brother.
A spokeswoman for the United States State Department, Marie Harf, on Monday repeated a call for a strengthening of “democratic principles” in Thailand. She also applauded the “restraint” showed by the government toward the protesters.
Corruption has been a problem in Thailand for decades and by at least one measure it did not worsen significantly after Mr. Thaksin became prime minister in 2001. The country’s score in a “corruption perception index” by Transparency International, a corruption monitoring group, has remained largely unchanged for the past 15 years.
Protest leaders and the Democrat Party, which is boycotting the election, have rejected Ms. Yingluck’s offer to discuss possibly delaying the election. Until this week the government had been firm that there were no provisions in the law to postpone elections.
Mr. Thirayuth said Thailand could probably not stomach an armed revolution in the style of France or the United States in the 18th century, but seemed to be pursuing a “peaceful revolution.”
Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, an election commissioner who has been vocal in his skepticism that elections can take place on time, said the country risked destruction. “Don’t claim the limitations of the law and allow the country to be destroyed,” he said.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the protest leader, marched through Bangkok on Wednesday collecting cash donations from supporters. He has laid out a plan where an unelected “people’s council” would reform the political system. Only then can “pure democracy” be achieved, he says.
Yet the Election Commission said it would not attend the government’s proposed forum on the issue, saying a large meeting would be unwieldy. Ms. Yingluck’s governing party on Tuesday accused the commission of dragging its feet, “playing politics” and “opposing” the elections.
By many measures, Thailand seems an unlikely candidate for a social revolution.
Mr. Somchai last month appeared to make his case for a delay. “We used to think that elections were the way to solve problems in society, like starting over,” he said, adding that he feared violence. “It’s as if it’s not worth it to have elections.”
The country has rapidly modernized in recent years, unemployment is close to zero and living standards are well above those of many neighboring countries.
In a city as vast as Bangkok, many areas were unaffected by the protests, which are concentrated in the central business district.
At the heart of the protest movement appears to be a highly emotional reaction to the political dominance of Mr. Thaksin and his allies – and a backlash against the emergence of a newly assertive voting class in northeastern Thailand, a populous area that historically was an impoverished backwater but was galvanized by Mr. Thaksin’s party and its policies.
Protesters retreated from at least two major intersections and in some areas the crowds were thinner than on Monday, the first day of the shutdown. Still, thousands of protesters remained on the streets. Bangkok’s largest shopping malls, which are in the heart of the protest area, said they would close early. And the Bank of Thailand reported that 135 bank branches were either closed or had shortened their operating hours.
Mr. Thaksin is from the north while Mr. Suthep is from southern Thailand, the stronghold of the opposition.
Despite an announcement by the government last week that thousands of soldiers had been called up to protect the capital, the presence of security forces remained very light, with protesters directing traffic in the city’s central business district. Groups of protesters marched to government offices and gathered in front of the Police Headquarters, where they shouted that the police were “slaves” to Mr. Thaksin.
A different set of protests have been held this week in northern Thailand: large crowds have gathered for candlelight vigils under the slogan “respect my vote.”
