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Rioting follows state of emergency in Thai capital
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-13 07:35 The pro-Thaksin demonstrators, calling themselves the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, say Abhisit's four-month-old government took power illegitimately and want new elections. They also accuse the country's elite -- the military, judiciary and other unelected officials -- of undermining democracy by interfering in politics. The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order and allows the government to call up military troops to quell unrest. "The government can't do anything. There are too many of us. We will show them what tens of thousands of unarmed civilians can do. The people will finally rule our beloved Thailand," said Lada Yingmanee, a 37-year-old housewife at one of the protest sites. Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said soldiers and police were being moved to more than 50 key points in the city, including bus and railway stations. He said the military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup -- a common feature of Thai political history. Abhisit, in an address televised just before midnight Sunday night, called on the public not to panic and to cooperate with the government to end the crisis. Sitting at a meeting table with Cabinet ministers and top military and police officers, he declared that "the military and the police are friends of the people. They do not want to use violence. They are simply enforcing law and order." "In the next three to four days, the government will keep working to return peace and order to the country," he said, without detailing what measures would be employed. Abhisit earlier vowed swift legal action against protesters who stormed the venue of an East Asian Summit in the beach resort of Pattaya on Saturday. Thai authorities had to evacuate the Asian leaders by helicopter. He said five arrest warrants have been issued for leaders of resort protest. A protest leader who spearheaded Saturday's demonstrations, Arisman Pongruengrong, was taken into custody Sunday and flown by helicopter to a military camp for questioning, said police spokesman Maj. Gen. Suport Pansua. Tourism Council of Thailand Chairman Kongkrit Hiranyakit predicted that the country would lose at least 200 billion baht ($5.6 billion) as foreign tourists shunned the country as they did after the airport take-overs. Tourism is Thailand's major foreign currency earner and one they can't afford to ignore as it grapples with the shock of the global economic crisis. At Saturday's summit, more than 1,000 demonstrators broke through a wall of unarmed soldiers, smashed through the convention center's glass doors and ran through the building, blowing horns, waving Thai flags and shouting demands for Abhisit to resign. They declared victory after Abhisit canceled the summit, where leaders of regional powers China, Japan and India, and the UN secretary-general and president of the World Bank, planned to discuss the global financial crisis. Analysts say it will now be difficult for Abhisit to regain control, if he is even the one running the country. "It remains to be seen if the security forces can control the situation. It is unlikely anyone can because there are so many splits and so many power brokers," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, one of Thailand's most prominent historians. "No one seems to be in charge within the establishment, the government and the military."
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