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State of emergency in Bangkok as Red Shirts riot
Associated Press - April 7, 2010
Grant Peck, Bangkok – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Wednesday, giving the army broad powers to restore order after anti-government protesters broke into Parliament, forcing some lawmakers to flee by helicopter.
Other lawmakers scaled the compound's walls to escape the most chaotic protest in several weeks of demonstrations by a group demanding Abhisit dissolve the government and call elections within 15 days. He has offered to do so by the end of the year.
"The government has tried its best to enforce the law, but violations of the law have increased," Abhisit said in a televised statement that interrupted regular programming. "The intrusion into Parliament today led me to call an emergency meeting with the cabinet this evening."
A state of emergency gives the military authority to restore order and lets authorities suspend some civil liberties and ban public gatherings of more than five people.
The so-called Red Shirt protesters have been camped in Bangkok since March 12 and have ignored all decrees for them to end their demonstrations. Abhisit has become the target of harsh criticism for failing to take strong measures to end the protests. He has tried negotiations, and has had security forces pull back from possible confrontations.
His government is backed by the military, but some suggest the security forces are sympathetic to the protesters' cause and are reluctant to crack down on them.
One of the most radical protest leaders, Arisman Pongruengrong, led a small group in smashing the compound's gate and rushing into the Parliament building as Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and other lawmakers were inside. The protesters later withdrew at the request of opposition legislators, their political allies.
A government security agency known as CAPO said it sent a Black Hawk helicopter with five armed soldiers to fly the ministers and lawmakers to safety. Abhisit had left before the break-in. Abhisit has reportedly canceled a trip to Washington for a nuclear summit on Monday and Tuesday.
The Red Shirt movement – formally the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship – contends Abhisit came to power illegitimately in the years after Thaksin Shinawatra was removed from power in a 2006 coup over corruption allegations. The group is made up largely of Thaksin supporters and pro-democracy activists who opposed the putsch.
Prominent Thai historian Charnvit Kasetsiri called the situation "a game of brinkmanship," with neither side wanting to be accused of initiating violence.
Political turmoil has increased since the 2006 coup and has deeply divided Thai society, but most striking has been a growing sense of empowerment among poor rural and city people long used to kowtowing to bureaucrats and their better-off countrymen.
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