THAILAND: Thousands of protesters gather infront of Bangkok's glitziest shopping malls

Record ID: 859306

  • Title: THAILAND: Thousands of protesters gather infront of Bangkok's glitziest shopping malls
  • Date: 30th March 2006
  • Summary: (BN11) CHIANG MAI PROVINCE, THAILAND (MARCH 28, 2006) (REUTERS) THAKSIN SHINWATRA, THAI PRIME MINISTER, HUGGING SOBBING SUPPORTERS; THAKSIN SURROUNDED BY SUPPORTERS; BUDDHA STATUE IN DOI SUTHEP TEMPLE; THAKSIN KNEELING DOWN TO PRAY IN FRONT OF BUDDHA STATUE; THAKSIN COMING DOWNSTAIRS FROM DOI SUTHEP TEMPLE
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • City:
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAT0K3JSQ02X9F0CL1YCXATDDO
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Some 15,000 protesters marched down a popular shopping district in downtown Bangkok on Wednesday (March 29, 2006) in a last push to oust Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra just days before Sunday's snap elections.
    Waving Thai flags and shouting "Thaksin, get out!", protesters marched to their new rally site outside one of Bangkok's trendy new malls, Siam Paragon, to begin what they had originally planned as a three-day sit in.
    Fearing the protest will block access for deliveries and customers, three mall operators along the upscale shopping district including Siam Paragon decided to shut their doors for two days.
    Mall operators also issued a joint plea for the rally to be relocated, and protest leaders later announced they planned to move to another site after Thursday night (March 30).
    The move by ad hoc anti-Thaksin coalition the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to the heart of the capital risks backlash from a public growing weary of weeks of almost daily street protests.
    On Sunday (March 26), 10,000 anti-Thaksin protesters marched through the same district and caused furious motorists and shoppers caught in the congestion to comment that disrupting ordinary lives was too much.
    Protest leaders had hoped the new protest site would attract more middle-class Thais to their cause.
    Shouting to protesters from an open truck, former general and key PAD leader said, "We have a problem in the country so let's spend the night and sleep on the road!"
    To prepare for Wednesday's protests, police shut 400 metres of a six-lane highway and advised commuters to use public transport like the elevated Skytrain and the Metro.
    A feared city-wide gridlock did not materialise as a result as many chose to leave their cars at home.
    While protesters gathered in downtown Bangkok to demand for his ouster, Thaksin is in his northern hometown of Chiang Mai on a Buddhist pilgrimage ahead of Sunday's polls.
    Asked by reporters about the protests, he said the government will use restraint in dealing with protesters.
    "I'm not worried about the election, I'm worried about people spreading misunderstandings about me," he told reporters.
    Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, which won 377 of 500 seats in parliament in a February 2005 general election, is expected to win another thumping majority in the April 2 poll.
    However, an opposition boycott means the result is likely to be constitutionally invalid, since unopposed TRT candidates in staunchly anti-Thaksin seats will struggle to win a 20 percent threshold of eligible votes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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