By Shen Min, Xinhua,
Bangkok : Thailand’s anti-government group People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) carried out its street protests in central Bangkok into the 14th day on Saturday to demand the step-down of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
Meanwhile, security was heightened on Saturday around the political center on the Ratchadamnoen Avenue, a major artery in Bangkok where major government agencies and cultural landmarks are located, with dozens of anti-riot police guarding around major entries to the Government House.
A few hundreds of anti-riot police were also seen standing around the protest venue at the Makkawan Bridge in front of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) headquarters compound in central Bangkok, where PAD speakers were delivering messages to an audience of thousands on a central stage, denouncing Samak, who they labeled as a nominee of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Though the Samak government said last week it had dropped the plan to use force against the protesters, observers were still worried that the police might take tougher measures like forceful dispersing and violent clashes would happen, as the PAD stuck to the rally venue in the heart of the Thai capital and remained firm in their calls for the ouster of Samak.
Samak has repeatedly demanded the PAD to remove their rally venue and ordered police negotiators to talk with the PAD leaders, saying that the marathon protest has disrupted traffic orders and people’s lives. However, PAD leaders insisted they would not move.
Retired Maj-Gen. Chamlong Srimuang, a core leader of the PAD, on Saturday denied reports that PAD demonstrators had secretly stored weapons to fight against “harassment by pro-government groups.”
Chamlong, a former well-known political activist and Bangkok governor, was quoted by Thai News Agency as saying that the plainclothes police officers who have been dispatched to the protest site would have arrested the protesters if they had cached any weapons.
He said the demonstrators only have flag poles, shields and baseball bats for self-defense because “the police couldn’t protect us”.
The PAD had taken a ‘mini-protest strategy’ in the last two days of street rallies, dispatching small teams of protesters to independent organizations such as the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), which were set up by the junta after the military top brass staged a bloodless coup to topple the elected government led by Thaksin on Sept. 19, 2006.
The “mini-protests” are meant to query the progress of corruption cases involving Thaksin, his family and his political allies.
Somsak Kosaisuk, another core leader of PAD, said demonstrators would travel to the Office of the Auditor General next Monday to offer moral support to AEC members who are responsible for probing and filing charges against Thaksin and his relations.
Somsak said PAD members had traveled to agencies concerning the country’s justice system because the People Power Party (PPP), the core political party of the current coalition government headed by PPP leader Samak, had pressured the agencies in a bid to prevent charges against Thaksin entering court procedures.