Thailand vows to protect summit
BANGKOK: Protesters paralyzed traffic in parts of Thailand's capital yesterday and threatened to shift their massive anti-government rally to the seaside East Asia Summit, as authorities assured the 15 heads of state expected to attend this weekend that they will be safe.
Leaders of the Bangkok protest, which numbered about 30,000 people yesterday evening after swelling the day before to 100,000, said they were debating whether to travel from the capital to the summit's venue in Pattaya, about 145 km south, to apply more pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The demonstrators are demanding that Abhisit resign along with the top adviser to the country's revered king. The protesters, supporters of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accuse the king's adviser of supporting the 2006 military coup that toppled Thaksin's government.
