Thai protesters target PM's party headquarters

[webfact]

Thai protesters target PM's party headquarters
by Anusak KONGLANG

BANGKOK, November 29, 2013 (AFP) - Hundreds of police were deployed Friday at Thailand's ruling party headquarters as defiant opposition protesters set their sights on a new high-profile target, seeking to intensify their fight to bring down the government.

Boisterous demonstrators have besieged key ministries in Bangkok in the biggest street protests since mass rallies against the previous government three years ago degenerated into the kingdom's worst civil strife in decades.

The protesters -- a mix of royalists, southerners and the urban middle class sometimes numbering in their tens of thousands -- are united by their loathing of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The controversial former telecoms tycoon was ousted in a coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile, but he is widely believed to be the real power behind the embattled government of his younger sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Protesters are demanding the end of the "Thaksin regime" and want to replace the government with an unelected "people's council".

Demonstrators announced Friday they would march to the headquarters of Yingluck's Puea Thai party, a day after cutting off the electricity to the national police headquarters in Bangkok, in their latest act of provocation against a key symbol of authority.

The move came just hours after Yingluck and her party easily won a parliamentary no confidence vote.

"We are deploying two companies of police (around 300 officers) at Puea Thai party headquarters after they asked for protection," deputy national police chief Worapong Siewpreecha told AFP.

With their spirits buoyed by free food and a party atmosphere, demonstrators have massed at several locations around the capital, including outside many major government buildings.

Their numbers have fallen sharply since an estimated crowd of up to 180,000 people joined an opposition rally on Sunday.

But turnout is expected to spike again over the weekend as organisers seek a final push ahead of celebrations for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday on December 5, which are traditionally marked in an atmosphere of calm and respect.

The carnival-like mood at the rallies masks deep divisions in Thai society that have erupted into political bloodshed on several occasions since Thaksin's overthrow.

While the latest demos have been largely peaceful, a minor clash broke out Thursday between pro- and anti-government supporters in the province of Pathum Thani on the northern outskirts of Bangkok, police said.

"Two anti-government supporters suffered minor injuries. They might have been hit with a wooden stick," said provincial police commander Major General Smithi Mukdasanit.

A minor confrontation between the two sides was also reported in the northeastern province of Mahasarakam although nobody was injured.

Thaksin remains a hugely divisive figure seven years after he was deposed by royalist generals. Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election for more than a decade.

He is adored by many of the country's rural and urban working class but hated by many southerners, middle-class Thais and the Bangkok elite, who see him as corrupt and a threat to the monarchy.

In a televised address Thursday, Yingluck urged demonstrators to call off their protesters and said the government did not want confrontation.

But a defiant rally leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, rejected any suggestion of talks in a tub-thumping late night speech that set a fresh deadline for the demos to reach their climax.

"Yingluck said the government can still govern, can still work -- I want to say that they will only be able to work for a few more days, then we will not let them work anymore," he told several thousand supporters in Bangkok.

The protests snowballed after the ruling party tried to introduce an amnesty that could have allowed Thaksin's return from self-imposed exile, and the rallies have continued despite a Senate move to reject the bill.

Yingluck on Monday ordered special security measures to be expanded to cover all of the capital, although she has ruled out using force against the demonstrators.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-11-29

[webfact]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

[PeterSmiles]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

Edited November 29, 2013 by PeterSmiles

[noitom]

And the Thailand drama continues to unfold. Will Thaksin surrender and throw in the towel in a move to save the country? Will Suthep agree to be bought out? Will the army deploy force and commence killing? Stay tuned to your station.

[Tatsujin]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

If it's relating to Yingluck, it should be "Gone Shopping" ...

[airconsult]

And the Thailand drama continues to unfold. Will Thaksin surrender and throw in the towel in a move to save the country? Will Suthep agree to be bought out? Will the army deploy force and commence killing? Stay tuned to your station.

Still negotiating the price for the rubber are we?

Edited November 29, 2013 by airconsult

[Loles]

Very high price for amnesty bill .....

[stefanbangkok]

Where is the PT Headquarter exactly located ?

I couldnt find the address.

And i have to go to Asoke now......

Edited November 29, 2013 by stefanbangkok

[Basil B]

Very high price for amnesty bill .....

Unfortunately this bill will not be paid by the Shinawatta's

[SamMunich]

Where is the PT Headquarter exactly located ?

I couldnt find the address.

And i have to go to Asoke now......

If you could come up Asoke from Sukhumvit (but the whole area is standing traffic now) you would turn right (outbound) at the Asoke/Petchburi intersection and go for about 700 meter or so. It's then on the right side, I think next to OAI Tower.

Or just go to where the most people are...

Actually it should be renamed from "For Thais" to "For Taksin" Party, much more than the Democrat Party should change it's name.

SamM.

[Showbags]

Bad timing really...with the birthday just around the corner and they will all disperse, the force will be lost and may be very difficult, if not impossible to pickup at the same rate again after the 5th.

The government just needs to hang on a few more days...unfortunately and they most likely may then win...by default.

Unless of course someone pops up and says 'screw me birthydy....go for it boys.'

[Ricardo]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

If it's relating to Yingluck, it should be "Gone Shopping" ...

What the protesters want it to read ... "Under New Management !"

edit to apologise to Tatsujin ... the quote-function didn't work properly, to give you the credit for "Gone Shopping" !

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ricardo

[plachon]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

If it's relating to Yingluck, it should be "Gone Shopping" ...

What the protesters want it to read ... "Under New Management !"

As far as I can discern, the incumbent government have now lost control of the key institutions and it is a lame duck, with few levers of power left to control, apart from maybe some key sections of Interior Ministry, esp Police. But they are still determined to hang on it seems, buoyed no doubt by orders from Dubai and yesterday, it seemed, some cautious moral support from their associates in Beijing. Perhaps what it will take now to topple the regime, is a couple of thousand of Suthep's boys to get on some planes to Dubai and besiege the Thaksin HQ or de facto Thai govt of the day?

[tingtongteesood]

Once again the AP forgets to mention that Thaksin is a convicted criminal fugitive avoiding Thailand to avoid serving his jail sentence. AP, please state the facts unbiasedly.

[tragickingdom]

Sure, they hope that the Red shirts fall in their trap and that violence will happen. After all Suthep has just 5 more days. It is almost the King's birthday and he will not dare to stay on the streets till that very day. So the army need to get involved. It will not happen. We will see Suthep soon behind bars, hopefully in Udon Thani or so, just in a general jail cell with 50 very big red shirt men, who will drop the soap for him.

[PeterSmiles]

RT @RichardBarrow: Sign saying Pheu Thai HQ on Phetchaburi is closed for 1 day. RT @Pakjiiz: http://t.co/mgp4Jgxicd

If it's relating to Yingluck, it should be "Gone Shopping" ...

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