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Thai PM vows to end anti-government protests
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-31 21:29
Crowd told not to resist police Somkiet Pongpaiboon, another PAD leader, told the crowd not to resist if police tried to end the protest, which has shut a 1 km stretch of a six-lane city centre road for nearly a week. Thailand's top military commander, who denied reports on Thursday that the army may be plotting another coup, said he did not believe the army would be called into the streets of Bangkok. "That would require a state of emergency and I don't think the Prime Minister will do that. It would make the country look bad," Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit told Reuters. Jakrapob Penkair, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office, quit on Friday after he was accused by police of making offensive remarks against the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2007. The saga is part of wider campaign by the PAD and opposition Democrat Party to paint Thaksin and his acolytes as republicans who want to end the country's 76-year-old constitutional monarchy. Stock investors reacted positively to Jakrapob's resignation, with the main index <.SETI> closing up 0.4 percent on Friday after four days of falls due to political uncertainty. Analysts say any violence could prompt the military to intervene, unsettling foreign investor confidence in an economy struggling with slowing growth and soaring inflation. Samak, who also holds the post of defence minister, said the police and army were fully behind him. "This is not September 19," he said, referring to the date of the bloodless 2006 coup. "We know what the problem is and we will deal with it. The situation does not warrant another coup." |
