Guarded hopes rise for peaceful end to Thai crisis

“If the prime minister still rejects the offer, we the Red Shirts will continue demonstrations,” one of the leaders, Khwanchai Praipana, told supporters in the Bangkok commercial district where they remain entrenched.

But other Red Shirt leaders tried to convince the crowd that the new negotiating position was not a retreat and included a demand that the government and military take responsibility for the violence which has resulted in 26 deaths and almost 1,000 wounded.

“At least this is better than before. Here is a chance that the crisis won’t end with bloodshed,” said Prinya Thewanaruemiktul, a law lecturer at Bangkok’s Thammasat University. Other media and academic commentaries also expressed some optimism while warning that the crisis was far from resolved.

The compromise position emerged a day after five grenades struck an elevated train station and a street where rival protesters had gathered to hurl insults and rocks at the Red Shirts, whose occupation of parts of the capital for six weeks has paralysed business and daily life in the city.

The attacks killed one person and wounded 86, and the heated passions of the rival protesters have raised fears of escalating vigilante-type violence.

Jaran Ditthapichai, a Red Shirt leader, said his group held unofficial talks with the government on Wednesday and Friday. He claimed the government privately expressed a willingness to compromise, suggesting it could dissolve the government in three months instead of the six on which it originally insisted.

He said the proposal for a 30-day deadline – instead of immediately – was offered to try to avoid new violence.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva did not respond directly when asked by reporters about the offer. He said that what was most important now was everybody should abide by the law.

“I just want to say that I will not stay on if I don’t mean to solve the problem,” he said. “Currently, I believe that I grieve as everybody does. And I intend to solve the problem.”

The Red Shirt statement does not categorically say the group will give up its protest if Parliament is dissolved by the deadline, but rather that it would be willing to negotiate with the government if three conditions are met. The government has up to 60 days to hold an election after dissolving Parliament

However, another protest leader, Veera Musikapong, said, “If the government accepts and is open to the talks, we are ready to disperse to restore peace in the country.”

The other conditions are for the government to stop harassing the group, and to hold an impartial investigation of violence that has marred the protests, including a government sweep on April 10 to oust the Red Shirts that resulted in 25 deaths and more than 800 injuries.

The Red Shirts consist mainly of rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed the military coup that ousted him in 2006. They believe Vejjajiva’s government is illegitimate because it came to power under military pressure through a parliamentary vote after disputed court rulings ousted two elected pro-Thaksin governments.

Much of Bangkok’s business district was paralysed Friday but some offices, restaurants and other shops reopened today along Silom Road, the key central artery and a popular tourist strip. The street’s major shopping complex planned to open today with shorter hours.

Thailand is suffering major economic losses, as foreign tourists shun it, investors are wary and shopping centres in the occupied commercial zone forego millions in sales.