THAILAND: A shooting overnight at a district office in north Bangkok is the latest violence in capital ahead of elections, as protesters prepare to march through the city expressing their opposition to the vote

Record ID: 354108

  • Title: THAILAND: A shooting overnight at a district office in north Bangkok is the latest violence in capital ahead of elections, as protesters prepare to march through the city expressing their opposition to the vote
  • Date: 1st February 2014
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (FEBRUARY 1, 2014) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS LOOKING AT BULLET HOLES IN A TRUCK NEAR LAKSI DISTRICT BULLET HOLES IN TRUCK WINDOW SCREEN PROTESTER COUNTING BULLET HOLES IN WINDOW SCREEN SOLDIER TAKING A PHOTO PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE DISTRICT OFFICE LOOKING VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CAMP OUTSIDE DISTRICT OFFICE PROTESTERS WALKING INTO CHINA TOWN PROTESTERS GAT
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2UGFAIT03943PBBPTMJW9B3J7
  • Story Text: Anti-government protesters camped outside Laksi district office in Bangkok, viewed the damaged on Saturday (February 1) after a drive-by shooting overnight.
    There were no reported injuries.
    Protesters started gathering outside the district office on Friday (January 31) and set up camp in an apparent bid to disrupt the vote.
    Elsewhere in Bangkok, protesters gathered ahead of a march led by leader Suthep Thaugsuban through the capital, part of a three-day push to show opposition to the vote. He wants political reforms, including the setting up of a "people's council" of notable worthies, before another election is held.
    Protesters have threatened to obstruct access to polling stations again on Sunday (February 2), although protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, in an apparent contradiction, said his supporters would not stop people voting.
    One protest leader confirmed polling booths would not be blocked.

    "We will not take away other people's right. We will not block the polling booth. We will let other people vote," Tavorn Seniem said.
    Thai authorities might close polling booths if violence erupts during Sunday's disputed election, which would further undermine the credibility of a vote that is deemed incapable of restoring stability in the polarised country.
    The government has vowed to push ahead with the general election despite threats by anti-government protesters, camped out at major intersections in Bangkok, that they will disrupt the polls in an attempt to stop Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party from returning to power.
    The anti-government protesters took to the streets in November in the latest round of an eight-year conflict that pits Bangkok's middle class, southern Thais and the royalist establishment against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006.
    The main opposition Democrat party, which backs the anti-government protests, is boycotting the election, which Yingluck's party is bound to win but without enough members to achieve a quorum in parliament.
    The prospect of polling stations having to close early because of trouble on the streets will only add to doubts about the vote's legitimacy.
    The protesters, members of the People's Democratic Reform Committee, forced polling stations in 49 of 50 districts in Bangkok to shut last weekend and voting could only go ahead in three of 15 southern provinces.
    Ten people have died and at least 577 have been wounded in politically related violence since late November, the Erawan Medical Center said, which monitors Bangkok hospitals.
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