Thai anti-government protesters set for final showdown

Suthep to surrender on May 27 if latest mass rallies fail to oust govt

Thai anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban greeting his supporters at a meeting yesterday.
Thai anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban greeting his supporters at a meeting yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Bangkok - Anti-government protesters in Thailand are to stage mass rallies in the coming days to try to get a new prime minister installed, but their leader Suthep Thaugsuban said if this final push in a six-month fight did not succeed, he would surrender to the authorities on May 27.

"It's time. This show has been going on for so long," he told a meeting of supporters from around the country yesterday. "It must come to an end. Whether it will be a happy ending depends on the great mass of people in this country and our state officials."

Thailand has been in turmoil since the protests flared up in November, the latest phase in nearly a decade of antagonism between the Bangkok-based establishment and supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the army in 2006.

Thaksin's sister, Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, was forced to step down as prime minister on May 7 when the country's Constitutional Court found her and nine ministers guilty of abuse of power.

Remaining Cabinet members selected Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan to replace her, but the anti-government protesters led by Mr Suthep said they had no authority to do that and want all the ministers replaced.

Mr Suthep told yesterday's meeting - held in Government House, where the prime minister normally works but which he has commandeered - that the mass rallies would start tomorrow.

Ahead of that, he said he would meet state company officials and sympathetic retired civil servants today to draw up plans for a new administration, and then meet serving top civil servants on Thursday.

Thailand has not had a lower House of Parliament since December, when Ms Yingluck dissolved the House and called a general election.

Voting was disrupted by Mr Suthep's supporters and the election was then declared void by the Constitutional Court. A proposed rerun on July 20 is looking increasingly unlikely.

The Upper House Senate, half of whose members are appointed and many of them establishment figures with views close to Mr Suthep's, is trying to break the impasse.

Last Friday, after a meeting of a limited group of senators, its newly elected Speaker said the Senate was prepared to choose an interim prime minister but members wanted to speak to political parties first. They will meet the government tomorrow.

Mr Suthep wanted more immediate action and is now putting pressure on the Senate to hurry things along. He has set numerous deadlines for the government to step down in recent months and issued many ultimatums, to little effect.

However, his powers of disruption remain. Acting Premier Niwatthamrong was forced to flee from a meeting with election officials last Thursday when Mr Suthep led his supporters into the air force compound where the talks were being held.

Mr Niwatthamrong runs a caretaker government with limited authority and the Senate head argues that a prime minister with full powers is needed to get the country out of the political and economic mess.

Data tomorrow is expected to show the economy contracted in the first quarter as confidence slumped and investment dried up due to the political crisis. Some economists fear the economy is slipping into recession.

Thousands of pro-Thaksin "red shirts" are camping on the outskirts of Bangkok and they have said they will defend the government if it looks like it is being forced out.

Twenty-eight people have been killed in political violence since November, including three during a gun and grenade attack on anti-government protesters in Bangkok last Thursday.

The attack prompted the army chief to warn that his men "may need to come out in full force" if violence escalated.

Reuters

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