Defiant Thai protesters face arrest as police seek court order
05/04/2010 12:01
Thailand's Prime Minister Abhist Vejjajiva has ordered his deputy to seek appropriate court orders to be used in the arrest of militant protesters. He wants to clear the area where red-shirted supporters of exiled Thaksin Shinawatra are holed up.
The red-shirted protesters who are identified with former Thai Prime Minister of Thaksin Shinawatra may face arrest when authorities get arrest warrants issued by duly-constituted court of law.
Thai authorities led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva are seeking court orders to increase the pressure for protesters to leave the area where they are staging their three week-old demonstrations.
Yahoo news reports
Tens of thousands of Thaksin supporters have paralysed a swathe of the capital, causing several major shopping malls to shut and traffic to grind to a halt on a key road through the commercial and luxury hotel district. Tensions in the capital grew with an early hours blast outside a massage parlour owned by the family of the commerce minister, but police said no one was injured.
The attacks are the latest in a series of unexplained explosions since the rolling demonstrations began in mid-March by Thaksin supporters who are mainly from the rural poor north of the country. The Reds are demanding immediate elections, accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of being undemocratic because it took office in 2008 through a parliamentary vote after a court stripped Thaksin's allies of power, the report added.
The British-educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has shown tolerance to protesters who started their street protests last March 12. His Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thahugsuban said he wants to end the stand off peacefully: "We will avoid force which risks clashes. But we may have to send authorities to the site," he said.
"Regardless of who brings an arrest warrant to me today I will not accept it," said Jatupron Prompan, a key Reds figure. "There is no law in the world banning its national from using roads."
The ongoing protest by the red-shirted followers of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has brought the Thai capital to near standstill since mid-March causing major damage to Thailand's thriving tourism industry.
(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )