Thailand

Pro-Thaksin protesters besiege PM's office

Article published on the 2009-02-24 Latest update 2009-02-24 14:26 TU

The anti-government protest
(Photo: Reuters)

Thousands of red-shirted demonstators are blockading the Thai Prime Minister's office demanding a fresh election, just two months after Abhisit Vejjajiva took office. The protesters also want a return to the 1997 constitution and the sacking of Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya for his links with a mass protest movement which toppled the previous government.

The protesters say they will camp out in front of Government House for at least three days. 

Abhisit says that he will go to work there on Wednesday, although the weekly cabinet meeting was relocated to the resort of Hua Hin, where a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), which opens Friday, will also be held. 

The protesters want Abhisit's Democrat-led government to be dismissed, because they believe it has no mandate. And they say that some of their number will march on the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to and force Kasit dismissal, because of his links to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which organised similiar protests which ended in the toppling of the previous government.

They also want the return of the 1997 constitution, which was scrapped following the 2006 coup which toppled Thaksin Shinawattra, the millionaire businessman whose allies ran the last government.

Thaksin is currently in exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption.

The demonstrations come at a crucial time both for the present government's well-off backers and for Thaksin, says anlayst Jacques-Chai Chonthongli.

“If he leaves this for too long, there might be the possibility that people will be less confronting the government and people might come together in the light of the crisis," he told RFI.