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| Southeast Asia |
| Arrest warrant for Toxin |
| 2009-04-15 |
| [Straits Times] POLICE issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for 14 leaders of an anti-government movement, including ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as protesters abruptly ended violent demonstrations in Thailand's capital. A day after red-shirted protesters burned buses and seized intersections in clashes with police and soldiers that left two people dead and 123 injured, their leaders called it quits, urging a group of 2,000 die-hard demonstrators to go home. SOME protesters threatened to regroup after the arrest warrants were issued. About 200 protesters took off their red shirts but gathered in a field near Government House late on Tuesday. They were closely monitored by soldiers patrolling the area but no clash was reported. Jakrapob Penkair, a protest leader who had not turned himself in, said the movement 'will continue fighting'. He did not specify what action they would take next. The swift and unexpected resolution headed off the possibility of a confrontation with heavily armed troops massing around the demonstrators' encampment near the seat of government. Dispirited protesters quietly boarded government buses watched over by soldiers. But few expected it was the end of a rural-based movement that has shown the ability to mobilise 100,000 protesters and cause the cancellation of a regional summit in its campaign seeking to force out a government dominated by urban elements and hold new elections. Charnvit Kasetsiri, one of Thailand's most prominent historians, said the 'political convulsion' may be over for now, but the underlying tensions between the rural poor and urban elite highlighted during the demonstrations remain. The demonstrations were a mirror of mass protests by urban groups last year that snarled Bangkok until the courts removed a government led by Thaksin's allies who were elected on the strength of rural voters. The appointment of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva further angered many rural people, who were already upset by a 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin, and their disenchantment blew up into their own protest movement. Three of the 14 protest leaders were in police custody, metropolitan police spokesman Suporn Pansua said, and the Bangkok Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 11 others, including Thaksin, who went into self-imposed exile last year before a court convicted him of violating a conflict of interest law. The warrants accuse the protest leaders of creating a public disturbance and engaging in illegal assembly, which carry prison terms of up to seven and three years, respectively. 'This is not a victory or a loss of any particular group,' Mr Abhisit said in a televised address. 'If it is victory, it is victory of society that peace and order has returned.' But he warned that the threat from the red-clad protesters was not over. 'The operation under the state of emergency is not completed. There are still things to do,' he said. 'There are still protesters in some areas. The only difference is they aren't wearing red anymore.' The government announced it was adding two more days to the three-day Thai New Year holiday, which began Monday, to ensure safety and allow time for repairing damage from the violence. |
| Posted by:Fred |