ASEAN Summit postponed until August over protests

INDONESIA: A summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand, canceled over protests in Pattaya, has been postponed until August, a Thai news agency reported Saturday.

"The ASEAN leaders will meet again in Bangkok in August and sign agreements planned for signing Saturday," the Nation reported.

Some 1,000 red shirts, or anti-government protestors, burst into the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel, the venue for the summit causing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to introduce a state of emergency in Pattaya. The opposition supporters are reported to be heading for the capital Bangkok, where thousands are taking part in demonstrations, with protestors demanding that Vejjajiva resign.

The summit participants were evacuated in helicopters.

Anti-government protests started in Pattaya, 150 kilometers south of Bangkok, on Friday. Protests in Thailand started in March this year after the government allocated 9 million low-paid Thai workers assistance worth $55 each.

Protestors called the assistance "bribery" and said the cabinet had come to power illegally. J

AKARTA, Sunday, RIA Novosti