THAILAND: Thai police clear anti-government protesters from a site near the Energy Ministry in Bangkok

Record ID: 567071

  • Title: THAILAND: Thai police clear anti-government protesters from a site near the Energy Ministry in Bangkok
  • Date: 18th February 2014
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (FEBRUARY 18, 2014) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS BEHIND THEIR SANDBAGS BARRIER PROTESTER SHOWING HIS MIDDLE FINGER MAN WEARING GAS PROTECTION MASK MORE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS BEHIND BARRIERS LINE OF RIOT POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE HOLDING SHIELD PROTEST LEADERS HEADING OUT TO NEGOTIATE WITH POLICE VARIOUS PROTEST LEADERS NEGOTIATING WITH POLICE OFFICER WITH MEDIA SURROUNDING THEM (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) DEPUTY METRO POLICE CHIEF, MAJOR GENERAL ADUL DAMRONGSAK, SAYING: "We want to ask for the return of road areas between Suan Miksakawan and Makkawan bridge, for the peace of residents and traffic in the areas." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS BEHIND THEIR BARRIER
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA14QWCUI9RW0XOQD8HHOFC8W0P
  • Story Text: Thai police cleared anti-government protesters on Tuesday (February 18) from a site near the Energy Ministry in Bangkok that had been occupied for weeks The protesters have been rallying since November in a bid to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier and telecoms tycoon toppled in a military coup in 2006.
    Security officials said 15,000 officers were involved in an operation, called the "Peace for Bangkok Mission", to reclaim protest sites around government buildings in the centre and north of the capital.
    "We want to ask for the return of road areas between Suan Miksakawan and Makkawan bridge, for the peace of residents and traffic in the areas," said Major General Adul Damrongsak, the Deputy Metro Police Chief.
    National Security Council Chief Paradom Pattanathabutr told Reuters earlier that police also arrested around 100 protesters.
    Riot police with their shields stood near Government House in central Bangkok, while demonstrators were massed a few hundred metres away, the two sides separated by sandbag barriers constructed by the protesters.
    The protests are the latest installment of an eight-year political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the poorer, mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother Thaksin.
    Demonstrators accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used taxpayers' money for populist subsidies and easy loans that have bought him the loyalty of millions in the populous north and northeast.
    Yingluck has been forced to abandon her office in Government House by the protesters, who have also blocked major intersections since mid-January.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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