DTN News: Thailand's Televised Protest Talks End Without Resolution
Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) BANGKOK, Thailand: - March 29, 2010: Live televised talks between Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and anti-government pro
testers ended Sunday without resolution, failing to end two weeks of street demonstrations.
The premier refused to bow to the red-shirted demonstrators' demand to call snap elections, but both sides agreed to meet the next day at 6:00 pm (1100 GMT) to continue discussions.
"House dissolution can only happen if we see it is not only the way out for the Reds but for the whole country also," Abhisit told three Red Shirt leaders across a meeting table as he sat flanked by two of his senior staff.
The Reds' Jatuporn Prompan, one of the leaders of the movement that backs deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, said they would return to the table on Monday, but pressed the prime minister to meet their request within a fortnight.
"We ask you to dissolve the house within two weeks. Whatever your decision should be, if we talk tomorrow, I want you to consider this condition," Jatuporn told Abhisit.
The Reds have staged a series of mass dramatic stunts over the past two weeks in their bid to force Abhisit to call snap elections, picketing the army barracks where he is holed up and throwing their own blood at his office gates. Key dates: Thailand unrest
Abhisit had ruled out talks earlier Sunday, but made an about-face later in the day and looked visibly uneasy throughout much of the three-hour meeting with the Red Shirt leaders, held at a Bangkok educational institute.
The Red Shirts are opposed to Abhisit's Democrat-led government, accusing it of being undemocratic as it came to power on the back of a parliamentary vote that followed a controversial court ruling ousting Thaksin's allies from power.
They seek the return of the twice-elected populist Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon, saying that the coup that ousted him in 2006 was illegal.
"If you are confident of winning an election, you should return power to the people," Jatuporn told Abhisit. Polls are due to be held by December 2011.
Tens of thousands of protesters sat at their rally ground in Bangkok's government quarter Sunday to watch the televised talks on a giant screen.
Thaksin later addressed them by video link, urging them to unite behind the Red leaders who he said had been downbeat following the televised talks.
"Some say it was negative for the Reds because Abhisit is a good speaker but he lacks all sincerity," said Thaksin, who is staying in Dubai to avoid a jail sentence for corruption and regularly addresses his supporters via videolink.
"We have to unite, keep fighting and stay to help each other," he told them.
The Reds upped the pressure on Abhisit during the weekend, threatening to march in their tens of thousands on the military barracks where he has been holed up.
Their movement is drawn largely from the country's rural poor who say the British-born Oxford-educated Abhisit is only able to lead the government's fragile six-party coalition with the powerful military's backing.
Thailand political analyst and Thaksin biographer Chris Baker said Abhisit's decision to enter talks revealed more about the feelings of other establishment figures who back the weakened premier.
"How do the military and various other people think they can best manage the situation?... I think they're likely to think Abhisit's quite simply expendable," he said.
"I don't think these talks will be over so quickly," Baker said.
The Reds are riding high after a rally Saturday that drew 80,000 people and forced troops to retreat from security posts in the heart of the capital where they have been stationed since the demonstrations began.
The military has mounted a massive security operation for the demonstrations, which began on March 14 after a court ruling that seized 1.4 billion dollars of Thaksin's fortune.
Street demonstrations have passed off peacefully but the capital has been hit by a series of explosions at government and army buildings.
A dozen people were injured over the weekend when grenades were lobbed at the gate of the barracks where Abhisit has been forced to live and work since the protests began.
Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) BANGKOK, Thailand: - March 29, 2010: Live televised talks between Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and anti-government pro
testers ended Sunday without resolution, failing to end two weeks of street demonstrations.
The premier refused to bow to the red-shirted demonstrators' demand to call snap elections, but both sides agreed to meet the next day at 6:00 pm (1100 GMT) to continue discussions.
"House dissolution can only happen if we see it is not only the way out for the Reds but for the whole country also," Abhisit told three Red Shirt leaders across a meeting table as he sat flanked by two of his senior staff.
The Reds' Jatuporn Prompan, one of the leaders of the movement that backs deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, said they would return to the table on Monday, but pressed the prime minister to meet their request within a fortnight.
"We ask you to dissolve the house within two weeks. Whatever your decision should be, if we talk tomorrow, I want you to consider this condition," Jatuporn told Abhisit.
The Reds have staged a series of mass dramatic stunts over the past two weeks in their bid to force Abhisit to call snap elections, picketing the army barracks where he is holed up and throwing their own blood at his office gates. Key dates: Thailand unrest
Abhisit had ruled out talks earlier Sunday, but made an about-face later in the day and looked visibly uneasy throughout much of the three-hour meeting with the Red Shirt leaders, held at a Bangkok educational institute.
The Red Shirts are opposed to Abhisit's Democrat-led government, accusing it of being undemocratic as it came to power on the back of a parliamentary vote that followed a controversial court ruling ousting Thaksin's allies from power.
They seek the return of the twice-elected populist Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon, saying that the coup that ousted him in 2006 was illegal.
"If you are confident of winning an election, you should return power to the people," Jatuporn told Abhisit. Polls are due to be held by December 2011.
Tens of thousands of protesters sat at their rally ground in Bangkok's government quarter Sunday to watch the televised talks on a giant screen.
Thaksin later addressed them by video link, urging them to unite behind the Red leaders who he said had been downbeat following the televised talks.
"Some say it was negative for the Reds because Abhisit is a good speaker but he lacks all sincerity," said Thaksin, who is staying in Dubai to avoid a jail sentence for corruption and regularly addresses his supporters via videolink.
"We have to unite, keep fighting and stay to help each other," he told them.
The Reds upped the pressure on Abhisit during the weekend, threatening to march in their tens of thousands on the military barracks where he has been holed up.
Their movement is drawn largely from the country's rural poor who say the British-born Oxford-educated Abhisit is only able to lead the government's fragile six-party coalition with the powerful military's backing.
Thailand political analyst and Thaksin biographer Chris Baker said Abhisit's decision to enter talks revealed more about the feelings of other establishment figures who back the weakened premier.
"How do the military and various other people think they can best manage the situation?... I think they're likely to think Abhisit's quite simply expendable," he said.
"I don't think these talks will be over so quickly," Baker said.
The Reds are riding high after a rally Saturday that drew 80,000 people and forced troops to retreat from security posts in the heart of the capital where they have been stationed since the demonstrations began.
The military has mounted a massive security operation for the demonstrations, which began on March 14 after a court ruling that seized 1.4 billion dollars of Thaksin's fortune.
Street demonstrations have passed off peacefully but the capital has been hit by a series of explosions at government and army buildings.
A dozen people were injured over the weekend when grenades were lobbed at the gate of the barracks where Abhisit has been forced to live and work since the protests began.
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