Empresas y finanzas
Thai protesters refuse to pack up, push new demands
BANGKOK (Reuters) - 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 November 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.
"WHEN WILL THEY LEAVE?"
On April 10, troops clashed with protesters in a chaotic gun battle in Bangkok's old quarter. Twenty civilians and five soldiers were killed and more than 800 people wounded.
The government blames the killings on "terrorists" working with the red shirts. In return, the red shirt leaders have denounced the government as "tyrants" and "murderers."
"Things are looking up on the political front but it's not over yet," said Siam City Securities analyst Sukit Udomsirikul. "Yes, the red shirts accepted Abhisit's plan for a November 14 poll and the timetable for dissolving parliament, but what people really want to know here is: when are they going to leave?"
The red shirts' conditions for ending the rally include lifting a ban on transmissions of the People's Channel, a television station used by the red shirts to mobilise supporters.
The mostly rural and working-class protesters accepted the election timetable proposed by the government, including plans to dissolve parliament in the second half of September, but academic Pavin said that was probably irrelevant, given their conditions.
"With the red shirts' requests, I don't think November elections are going to happen. The government has said it will only go forward with November 14 elections if they can bring back some kind of normalcy to Bangkok," he said.
Abhisit does not have to call an election until the end of 2011 but offered the November poll as a way to end the crisis.
He had pushed for a reply by Monday after weekend gun and grenade attacks that killed two policemen and wounded 13 people.
The authorities are faced with the dilemma of how to dislodge thousands of protesters, including women and children, from a fortified encampment sprawling across 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) of the central Bangkok shopping district.
The red shirts, who broadly support ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have been demonstrating since mid-March, at first demanding immediate elections. They say the ruling coalition has no mandate after coming to power in a parliamentary vote 17 months ago orchestrated by the army.
(Additional reporting by Ploy Ten Kate; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Nick Macfie)