Thailand backtracks on red-shirt protest crackdown

Wednesday, 12 May 2010


Thailand's leaders have suspended plans to cut supplies to anti-government protesters camped in Bangkok.

Officials had announced that utilities, food, transport and telephones would be cut in a bid to move the protesters, known as the red-shirts.

But they cancelled the measures after complaints from residents in the area.

The government has been trying to move the protesters peacefully since 10 April, when a failed army crackdown left 25 dead and hundreds injured.

The government had offered to hold an election in November, but the protesters had rejected that compromise.

It is unclear whehter the deal is still on the table for the protesters, after one government adviser suggested on Wednesday that the early election was no longer an option.

Other government figures are still suggesting that a November poll could be part of a deal if the red-shirts would agree to leave the centre of town.

The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says issuing ultimatums and failing to act on them creates the danger of seriously undermining the government's credibility.

Despite positions apparently hardening and earlier peace plans unravelling, the armed forces said on Wednesday that they would "not use force at this stage".

Protesters blame the government for the deaths of 19 protesters, one journalist and five soldiers in the 10 April crackdown.

'Call for justice'

The protesters - a loose coalition of left-wing activists, democracy campaigners and supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - say the government is illegitimate because it came to power through a parliamentary deal rather than an election.

They began their protest on 14 March, demanding fresh elections. After days of debate on whether and how to agree to government plans, the red-shirts' opposition to any move is united.

"We have made a decision to continue to call for justice for our people here," said one of the red-shirt leaders, Nattawut Saikuar.

"If the government wants to take any more lives, they can come and get them here."

Thousands of protesters have been camped out in Bangkok for two months, occupying major thoroughfares in the centre of the city, closing shops and hotels.

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