Thai protestors close Bangkok train system
Anti-government protesters forced Bangkok’s elevated train system to close during rush hour today as they promised to expand demonstrations that have plunged the Thai capital into chaos.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has broken off negotiations with the protesters occupying parts of central Bangkok, said he hoped to resolve the crisis without resorting to force, but he also deployed hundreds of soldiers armed with automatic weapons to guard stations and other major city streets.
At least 26 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 wounded since protesters known as the Red Shirts – who come mostly from poor, rural provinces and view the government as illegitimate – began occupying parts of Bangkok in mid-March, closing down five-star hotels and shopping malls and devastating the country’s vital tourism industry.
The government has not given a clear statement of how it plans to end the stand-off after rejecting a Red Shirt compromise proposal over the weekend to disband parliament within 30 days.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban warned today that security forces would “intensify operations,” but did not say whether that meant trying to clear protesters from the streets, which would almost certainly lead to more bloodshed.
In what appeared to be an effort to heighten pressure on the government, protest leaders said they would send mobile teams out of their encampment and into other parts of Bangkok tomorrow with speaker trucks to distribute leaflets and CDs explaining their side of the story.
Such movements could provoke friction with a group of pro-government counter-protesters, known as the Yellow Shirts, whom the Red Shirts view as representing an establishment that they feel is insensitive to their plight.
