Thousands Swarm Bangkok To Demand Elections

Tens of thousands of protesters converged in Bangkok yesterday and gave Thailand's military-backed government an ultimatum: call elections within 24 hours or face crippling mass demonstrations across the capital.

About 80,000 red-shirted sup porters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra flooded the historic heart of Bangkok, singing prodemocracy songs, dancing, waving placards and illustrating Thaksin?s enduring influence on Thai politics even after his ouster in a 2006 coup, graft conviction and exile abroad Police expected up to 150,000 protesters by evening and are bracing for a rowdy demonstration that could go on for days. Foreign investors worry any violence could derail a nascent recovery in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy but they have expressed confidence in Thailand's financial markets by snapping up local stocks in recent days.

That optimism is based on three factors: Thai assets are already trading at a substantial risk discount, the economy has rebounded well from the ravages of the global downturn despite bouts of unrest, and the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is widely expected to survive the showdown.

Protest leaders insist the rally will be peaceful even if it lasts a week. They plan to maintain pressure on Abhisit to dissolve Parliament and call an election that Thaksin?s ales would be well-placed to win. Abhisit is unlikely to give in.

?We?re asking the government to relinquish power and return it to the people,? said Veera Musikapong, chairman of the protest group, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, setting a deadline of noon Monday for parliament to be dissolved.

If that is not met, they will march throughout Bangkok, said protest leader Nattawut Saikua, raising the prospect of paralysing many of the capital?s already-con-gested streets.

Abhisit must go to the polls by the end of next year. In his weekly radio address yesterday, he indicated immediate elections were unlikely, citing the tense political climate and his coalition government's parliamentary majority.

The ?red shirts? recent emphasis on nonviolent tactics suggests they may have trouble forcing elections, said Chamvit Kasetsiri, a political historian at Thammasart University. ?If s hard to pressure the government if the crowd is under control. They will have to try to step it up in the next few days to make more noise and make themselves heard. The danger for the reds is that the government could just wait it out,? he said.

Several main roads near government offices were blocked off either by protesters? pick-up trucks and motorcycles or cordoned off by police and soldiers. Authorities deployed 50,000 police, soldiers and other security forces across the city.

?It may get more volatile after a few days as the protest leaders step up their measures and people are tired and frustrated,? National Security Council Secretary General Thawil Hiensri said. We have to make sure there is no damage.?

Protesters accuse the government of scaremongering.

The turbulence adds to a seemingly intractable political crisis that pits the military, urban elite and royalists, who wear the revered king's traditional color of yellow at protests and back Abhisit, against the mainly rural Thaksin supporters.

The protesters say the British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power illegitimately, heading a coalition the military cobbled together after courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin party that led the previous coalition government

Crowds gathered under tents and umbrellas, listening to fiery speeches and folk songs, rattling plastic foot-dappers, hooting horns and waving placards. Intense heat drove many indoors but large numbers were expected to return by evening.

Sourced = The Cambodia Daily