Thai protesters refuse to pack up

Push new demands:

THAILAND: Thai anti-government protesters remained camped on the streets of Bangkok on Tuesday, refusing to end a two-month demonstration until a deputy Prime Minister faces charges over a clash with troops in April that killed 25 people.

The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the “red shirts”, has accepted a timetable for a Nov. 14 election proposed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

But it has set a new condition that Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban be formally charged by police, raising doubts over a quick, peaceful end to a crisis that has killed 29 people, paralysed an upmarket commercial district and decimated the tourist industry in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.

Suthep went to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Tuesday to hear complaints filed against him as head of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation, set up to oversee the response of the government and security forces to the crisis.

“I am happy to enter the judicial process to show the government is sincere. I am not here to meet the red shirts’ conditions. It was already in our original plan,” Suthep told reporters after meeting with DSI officials.

That did not satisfy the red shirts, particularly as the DSI comes under the Justice Ministry and they see its head, Tharit Pengdith, as close to the government.

“We want a criminal charge against Suthep as well as Abhisit and we want a truly independent committee to be set up to investigate recent political violence,” said Weng Tojirakarn, one of the group’s leaders.

The group said Abhisit should also be prosecuted when his immunity ends when the parliamentary session closes on May 21.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the red shirts, by setting unrealistic demands, might play into the government’s hands. “People understand the government wants to calm the situation and reconcile with the red shirts. Now the red shirts have come up with their own conditions which the government cannot comply with,” Pavin said.

Bangkok, Tuesday, Reuters