Thai soldiers prepare as anti-government protesters plan to occupy Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: EPA
Thousands of protesters launched a “people’s coup” on Thailand’s government on Sunday, swarming multiple state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound.
Through the afternoon, police fired teargas on stone-throwing protesters in chaotic demonstrations that paralysed parts of Bangkok and followed a night of gun and knife battles during which two people were killed and at least 54 wounded.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was forced to evacuate to an undisclosed location. Photo: Xinhua
A group of protesters forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to evacuate to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews, while hundreds seized control of state broadcaster Thai PBS, waving flags, tooting whistles.
Declaring Sunday “V-Day” in a week-long bid to topple Yingluck and end her family’s more than decade-long influence over Thai politics, protest leaders urged supporters to seize 10 government offices, six television stations, police headquarters and the prime minister’s offices in what they are calling a “people’s coup”.
Police said about 30,000 anti-government protesters had gathered in at least eight locations. In three of them, police used teargas and water canons against people hurling stones, plastic water bottles and other projectiles.
“Police and protesters still haven’t come face to face. The use of teargas is part of our procedures,” national police spokesman Piya Utayo said on television.
It is the latest dramatic turn in a conflict pitting Bangkok’s urban middle class and royalist elite against the mostly rural poor supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup.
Reuters journalists waiting to interview Yingluck inside the police Narcotics Suppression Bureau were told by Natthriya Thaweevong, an aide for the prime minister, that she had left after protesters made it inside the outer part of the compound, the Police Sports Club, where the bureau is located.
In another area of the city, outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau, about 3,000 protesters rallied, accusing riot-clad police of being manipulated by Thaksin, a former policeman who rose to become a telecommunications magnate before entering politics and winning back-to-back elections in 2001 and 2005.
Chamai Maruchet Bridge, north of Government House, the prime minister’s offices, was a scene of nearly non-sop skirmishes, as police repeatedly fired teargas into the stone-throwing crowd, Reuters witnesses said. Protesters gathered near barricades spray-painted with the words “Failed State”.
In one of the most dramatic events, state broadcaster Thai PBS was taken over by protesters, according to PBS and police. More than 250 mostly black-shirted protesters gathered in the parking lot, as others streamed in.
Thai anti-government protester attack police lines as thousands of protesters try to force their way into Government House in Bangkok. Photo: EPA
The executive producer at Thai PBS, Surachai Pannoi, told Reuters the management of the station would share its broadcast line with Blue Sky, a broadcaster controlled by the opposition Democrat Party, starting this afternoon.
STREET BATTLES
Across Bangkok, police tightened security after clashes erupted on Saturday night between supporters and opponents of Yingluck near a sports stadium where about 70,000, red-shirted government supporters had gathered. Five major shopping malls closed their doors across Bangkok, underscoring the widening economic impact of the protests.
One “red shirt” government supporter was shot and killed outside the stadium early on Sunday, after a 21-year-old student was fatally shot several hours earlier.
Streets near the stadium, the scene of battles overnight, were littered with broken glass and rocks, a Reuters witness said. A red-shirt leader, Jatuporn Promphan, said four red shirts had been killed but Reuters only confirmed one, 43-year-old red-shirt guard Viroj Kemnak.
Thai anti-government protester attacks at police lines as thousands of protesters try to force their way into Government House in Bangkok. Photo: EPA
Fifty-four people were wounded in the fighting, according to the government’s Erawan emergency centre.
Thousands of government supporters began to disperse, returning on buses to their homes in the north after their rally was called off in a bid to calm the tension.
But that is unlikely to end Thailand’s worst political crisis since April-May 2010, a period of unrest that ended with a military crackdown. In all, 91 people were killed then, mostly Thaksin’s supporters trying to oust the then government.
MILITARY CALLED IN
Yingluck, who won a 2011 election by a landslide to become Thailand’s first female prime minister, has called on the protesters to clear the streets and enter into talks, saying Thailand’s economy was at risk after demonstrators occupied the Finance Ministry on Monday.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has ignored her and told demonstrators that laws must be broken to achieve their goals.
Thai anti-government protester holds a Thai flag. Photo: EPA
Seventeen battalions of 150 soldiers each, along with 180 military police, all unarmed, were called in to boost security on Sunday ahead of a deadline the same day set by demonstrators for ousting the government.
Fighting had intensified on Saturday after anti-government protesters attacked a bus they believed was full of government supporters. They also smashed the windshield of a taxi carrying people wearing red shirts, a pro-government symbol, and beat two people, one unconscious, police and witnesses said.
As darkness fell on Saturday, gunfire erupted outside the sports stadium in Bangkok’s Ramkamhaeng area, where the backers of Yingluck and Thaksin had gathered for a show of support.
At around 8pm, a gunman fired into Ramkamhaeng University, where hundreds of anti-government protesters had retreated after trying to block people from entering the stadium, witnesses said. One person was killed. It was not known who fired the shots.
Fighting raged in the area through the night.
At around 2am, Kittisak Srisunthorn, 36, said he was shot in the arm while sitting with a group of red-shirt guards.
“I heard homemade bombs, gunshots. People started to throw rocks and glass bottles. There were around 100 people gathered. I didn’t see any police,” Kittisak said.
Thaksin, who won over poor rural and urban voters with populist policies, was convicted of graft in 2008. He dismisses the charges as politically motivated. He remains in close touch with the government from his self-imposed exile, sometimes holding meetings with Yingluck’s cabinet by webcam.
Re: Thai PM Yingluck Sinawatra forced to flee building as protesters launch people’s
Thai protest leader meets PM after street clashes
By THANYARAT DOKSONE, Associated Press
Updated 11:23 am, Sunday, December 1, 2013
An anti-government protester throws back a tear gas canister fired by riot police in Bangkok, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. Riot police fired tear gas at anti-government mobs trying to force their way into the prime minister's office complex and Bangkok's police headquarters on Sunday, deepening Thailand's political crisis and raising fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies. Photo: Wason Wanichakorn, AP / AP
BANGKOK (AP) — The leader of Thailand's anti-government protests said unexpectedly that he had met the prime minister Sunday after daylong clashes between his supporters and police but defiantly told her he would accept nothing less than having her elected government step down to be replaced by an appointed council.
Suthep Thaugsuban said the meeting with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was held under the auspices of the military, which says it is neutral in the conflict. His account of defiance drew lusty cheers from his supporters.
Police throughout the day fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters who tried to battle their way into the government's heavily-fortified headquarters and other offices. Mobs also besieged several television stations, demanding they broadcast the protesters' views and not the government's. Several of the capital's biggest shopping malls closed in the heart of the city due to the unrest.
With skirmishes around Yingluck's office at Government House continuing as darkness fell, the government advised Bangkok residents to stay indoors overnight for their safety.
The protests have renewed fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies. Sunday marked the first time police have used force since demonstrations began in earnest a week ago — a risky strategy that many fear could trigger more bloodshed.
At least three people were killed and 103 injured in skirmishes over the weekend, according to police and the state's emergency medical services. The deaths occurred at a Bangkok stadium where the body of one protester shot in the chest lay face-up on the ground. The death toll was revised from four after the emergency services office said there had been a mix-up in information from hospitals.
Suthep insisted to his supporters that the meeting with Yingluck did not constitute negotiations. The protesters had dubbed Sunday "victory day" but failed to attain their main stated goal of taking over the prime minister's offices, despite engaging in pitched street battles. Yingluck's government has gone to painstaking lengths to avoid using deadly force.
"I only came to tell Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra that right now, people all over Thailand have stood up to show their ownership of Thailand," Suthep said.
He told followers it would take another two days for their goal to be reached. He earlier called for all public servants to take Monday off. Last week, protesters tried to disrupt government operations by besieging and occupying parts of several ministries and other government offices.
"If Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra listens to the people's voices and returns the power to the people, we will treat Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with politeness because we all are good citizens," he said.
Spokesmen for both the prime minister and the army said they were too junior to comment on any meeting. Government spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi said Yingluck was not expected to make a statement Sunday night. She did not appear in public, and her aides said she was in a safe place.
While the talks between the main protagonists suggest a faint possibility of a peaceful settlement, they also underline the traditional powerbroker role of the military, which could tumble the government even without a coup by refusing to let its forces help keep the peace. More than 2,500 military personnel were deployed Sunday in support of police defense efforts.
Political instability has plagued Thailand since the military ousted Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in a 2006 coup. Two years later, anti-Thaksin demonstrators occupied Bangkok's two airports for a week after taking over the prime minister's office for three months, and in 2010 pro-Thaksin protesters occupied downtown Bangkok for weeks in a standoff that ended with parts of the city in flames and more than 90 dead.
Re: Thai PM Yingluck Sinawatra forced to flee building as protesters launch people’s
An anti-government protester cleans his eyes with salt water solution after riot police fired tear gas to the protesters in Bangkok, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The protesters tried to make their way into the prime minister's office complex and Bangkok's police headquarters on Sunday. The protesters who mainly support the opposition Democrat Party are aiming to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, accusing her of being a puppet of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power. Photo: Sakchai Lalit, AP
An anti-government protester throws back a tear gas canister fired by riot police in Bangkok, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. Police in Thailand fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters armed with petrol bombs who tried to battle their way into the government's heavily-fortified headquarters Sunday, as gunshots rang out in Bangkok and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fled a police complex during the sharpest escalation yet of the country's latest crisis. Photo: Wason Wanichakorn, AP
Re: Thai PM Yingluck Sinawatra forced to flee building as protesters launch people’s
Riot police spray water cannons and fire tear gas at anti-government protesters in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. Police fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters armed with petrol bombs who tried to battle their way into the government's sand-bagged headquarters Sunday, as gunshots rang out in Bangkok and the prime minister fled a police complex during the sharpest escalation yet of the country's latest crisis. Photo: Sakchai Lalit, AP
An anti-government protester sprays fire extinguisher toward riot police in Bangkok, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. Riot police fired tear gas at anti-government mobs trying to force their way into the prime minister's office complex and Bangkok's police headquarters on Sunday, deepening Thailand's political crisis and raising fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies. Photo: Wason Wanichakorn, AP
