Asia-Pacific
Thai army to meet as troops defend Bangkok bank area
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-19 14:46
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 A Thai soldier stands a post behind a row of razor wire on Silom Road Monday, April 19, 2010, in the business district of downtown Bangkok, Thailand. [Agencies] |
Yellow shirts stirring
The yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) staged a crippling eight-day blockade of Bangkok's airports in December 2008, which left more than 230,000 tourists stranded.
An uneasy calm has prevailed in the capital since the clashes between troops and demonstrators on April 10, the first outbreak of violence in protests now in their sixth week.
However, the military has said it would not let the demonstrators spread outside the shopping district, where upmarket malls have been closed for more than two weeks.
"We won't let them go anywhere further," army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Sunday.
"Let's say that we are left with no choice but to enforce the law," Sansern told TNN television. "Those who do wrong will get their punishment. Taking back the area along with other measures are all included in enforcing the law. All this must be done."
Sansern said uniformed and armed security forces would be sent to secure high-rises around the demonstration area to prevent the "third hand" that the government has blamed for the killings from launching attacks.
Several thousand red shirts rallied on Sunday at the Rachaprasong intersection, dubbed their "final battleground", listening to speeches.
The 2008 yellow-shirt airport siege ended when a pro-Thaksin ruling party was dissolved for electoral fraud, paving the way for Abhisit's coalition to take power after a parliamentary vote the red shirts say was influenced heavily by the military.
Abhisit rebuffs claims his government is illegitimate and has refused to step down.
He failed to deliver his regular televised address on Sunday for a second week and has been uncharacteristically quiet since last week's clashes, breaking his silence on Friday when he announced the shake-up in the national security leadership.
With the government and security forces in disarray and street clashes between rival demonstrators on the cards, speculation is growing that hardliners within the military may decide to stage a coup to end the impasse in Thailand's intractable five-year political crisis.
