Re: BANGKOK: More than 100K at 9pm. Many More Coming. JAMS 50km Long. ArbiSHIT SHITTI
Tension in Bangkok, "red shirts" reject compromise
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai protesters are sticking to their demand for parliament to be dissolved immediately, according to a report on Thursday, after a tense night as fears grew of a crackdown to end their six-week rally in Bangkok.
Anti-riot police form a line to prevent pro-government supporters from advancing into an intersection at Silom Road during a counter-protest rally, close to where anti-government "red shirt" protesters have barricaded themselves, in Bangkok April 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Vivek Prakash)
Some leaders of the "red shirts" had suggested on Wednesday they might consider a three-month timeframe for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call elections.
But the Nation daily said the red shirts, mostly supporters of ousted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, were insisting on an immediate dissolution and had rejected an appeal by a national economic council to wait until a budget bill was passed in July.
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The red shirts have occupied an upmarket shopping district for three weeks, forcing posh malls and some luxury hotels to close their doors.
They have a second camp near the Silom business district, and there were rowdy scenes in the area late into the night on Wednesday when several hundred pro-government supporters massed opposite their barricade. Riot police got between them as troops looked on, but there was no violence.
The Bangkok Post reported this loose pro-government group planned a demonstration of up to 100,000 people on Friday.
On the security situation in the capital, it said: "About 60,000 troops are being deployed and all have permission to use live ammunition if necessary for self-defence."
The protests have frightened away tourists following a deadly clash on April 10 between the army and demonstrators that killed 25 people and wounded more than 800.
The central bank left interest rates at a record low on Wednesday, noting political risks were "affecting confidence, tourism, private consumption and investment".
Talks between Abhisit and the protesters collapsed last month when the red shirts rejected his offer to dissolve parliament within nine months -- a year early.
TRAIN SEIZED
Fearing a crackdown, the "red shirts" have bolstered security at their shopping district camp and built a barricade of tyres and sharpened bamboo poles near the business district.
Any move by troops to disperse them risks heavy casualties and the prospect of clashes spilling into nearby high-end residential areas.
A crackdown in the capital might also lead the red shirts to step up action elsewhere in the country, particularly in their strongholds in the north and northeast where there has been little unrest so far in the six-week campaign.
However, on Wednesday protesters stopped an 18-car train carrying soldiers 450 km (280 miles) away in northeastern Khon Kaen province.
The train was meant to take troops and military vehicles to the south to help contain a Muslim insurgency. The protesters mistakenly thought they were to be deployed in Bangkok, a railway police officer told Reuters by telephone from Khon Kaen.
Despite negotiations between a Khon Kaen deputy governor and red shirt leaders, the train was still blocked by around 200 protesters on Thursday, police said.
Analysts say the protests are radically different from other periods of unrest in Thailand's five-year political crisis -- and arguably in modern Thai history, pushing the country close to an undeclared civil war.
The demonstrations have evolved into a dangerous standoff between the army and a rogue military faction that supports the protesters and includes retired generals allied with twice-elected and now fugitive former premier Thaksin.
The protesters have demanded immediate elections, but both sides want to be in power during a September military reshuffle.
If Thaksin's camp prevails and is governing at the time of the reshuffle, analysts expect big changes including the ousting of generals allied with Thailand's royalist elite, a prospect royalists fear could diminish the power of the monarchy.
Despite the turmoil, some big foreign manufacturers -- most of them with plants well away from the capital -- said they are maintaining their investment policies.
"GM Thailand does not currently have any plans to review its investments in Thailand," said Sasinan Allmand, public relations director for Thailand at the Thai unit of General Motors.
The world's largest maker of disk drives, Seagate Technology, echoed that. "Business goes on as normal," said a senior Seagate communication official.
(Additional reporting by Orathai Sriring, Nopporn Wong-Anan, Martin Petty, Bill Tarrant and Khettiya Jittapong; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
