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By Thanaporn Promyamyai, Agence France-Presse
BANGKOK: Thai police eased their stance against
an anti-government rally late Saturday, saying they had no plan to
break up thousands of protesters despite stern threats from the
prime minister.
About 1,200 riot police in full gear deployed to
Bangkok’s historic district, where 5,000 protesters from the
People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) barricaded one of the main
avenues.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on national
television early Saturday that he had ordered police and soldiers to
break up the demonstration, which began one week ago, drawing crowds
from a few hundred to nearly 10,000 people.
But the deputy police spokesman, Major General
Surapol Tuanthong, told Agence France-Presse that Samak had only
been speaking about a “policy” showing willingness to crack down
if needed.
“As of now there is no plan to disperse the
demonstration. The PAD can carry on their protest. The police came
here to take care of security matters,” he said.
At least 2,000 protesters defied the prime
minister’s threat and continued to block a major avenue in the
city’s historic district, with some activists fashioning
improvised shields and batons out of plywood boards and wooden rods.
The protest by PAD began in Sunday, and has at
times drawn up to 10,000 people, according to police.
Two years ago PAD protests against former Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra led to a coup that ousted him from
power.
Now the alliance says it wants the newly elected
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to step down, accusing him of acting
as Thaksin’s puppet.
“I will not yield to your demand,” Samak
said in a televised speech early Saturday.
“I have prepared police and military forces.
You must find another place to rally that will not affect or violate
other people’s rights,” he said, stressing that obstructing
traffic was illegal.
“Who do you want to stage a coup this time? If
you want to fight, we fight in parliament,” Samak said.
The protest group’s leader, media baron Sondhi
Limthongkul, vowed to defy the dispersal order.
“PAD will not abandon any of you. I will not
run away from death. I want to tell you that whatever happens to me,
please take revenge for me,” Sondhi told the cheering crowd.
“If government decides to use force to
disperse the protest, then we have to defend ourselves and we are
ready,” PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila told reporters.
An aide to Samak, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told Agence France-Presse that the prime minister would
consider declaring a state of emergency if the situation spun out of
control.
“If lenient measures fail to break up the
rally, an emergency decree would be a last resort,” the aide told
Agence France-Presse.
Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niumpradit
told reporters that Samak has yet to issue an order-mobilizing
soldiers, but that the military would comply if an order is given.
“I am convinced that the prime minister will
use only police forces. He will only use the military if the
situation is very critical, because in most cases the result is
tragic,” he said.
A police official told Agence France-Presse that
1,000 reinforcements from nearby provinces were expected to arrive
in Bangkok by midnight Saturday.
The protest began in opposition to Samak’s
drive to amend Thailand’s military-backed constitution. The
kingdom’s royalist elite oppose the planned amendments, and the
controversy had raised rumors of a new coup.
His government also came under fire over a
speech made by a minister attached to the premier’s office.
Critics said the speech insulted the nation’s
revered king by questioning the role of the palace in Thai
democracy, a serious criminal offence.
The minister, Jakrapob Penkair, resigned on
Friday saying he wanted to ease political tensions. Samak has also
agreed to put his plan to amend the constitution to a referendum.
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