|
 Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House,
waving Thai flags and blowing whistles. After speeches and shouts of
"victory belongs to the people!" they left the compound an hour
later, and the gates were locked again. Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra was not there at the time.
Declaring that the government would use "only gentleness and
tenderness to solve problems," Deputy Prime Minister Surapong
Tovichakchaikul said the step was taken to reduce tensions so people
could celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday on Thursday. The
king is seen as the sole uniting figure in the country.
The move was widely viewed as offering the protesters a face-saving
way to end the demonstrations — although it remains to be seen
whether protests will resume in the future.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban vowed to keep up the struggle to
topple Yingluck and keep her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, from returning to power. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006
military coup, and Yingluck's rivals have repeatedly accused her of
being Thaksin's puppet.
"You can rest assured that this is a victory that is only partial
and not a complete victory because the tyrannical Thaksin government
endures," Suthep said. "We must continue fighting."
Thaksin remains central to Thailand's political crisis and is a
focal point of the protesters' hatred. He is despised by many of the
mostly middle-class Bangkok supporters of the opposition Democrat
Party for alleged widespread corruption and abuse of political power
for his family's benefit.
The protesters have demanded that Yingluck's government hand over
power to an unelected council that would appoint a new prime
minister — a demand she has rejected. She was elected with an
overwhelming majority in 2011, and many observers see the
protesters' demand as unreasonable if not outlandish.
Yingluck acknowledged Thursday that more needs to be done to resolve
the political upheaval. She proposed inviting people from all walks
of life to a forum to exchange views and "reform the political
situation."
"I myself want to see a solution that will bring peace to the people
in the long term," she said in a brief televised statement.
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The street battles, which followed a month of peaceful
demonstrations, have hurt Thailand's image and raised concerns that
prolonged unrest could damage the tourism industry ahead of the peak
holiday season.
Four people died and more than 256 were injured after clashes
erupted Saturday between protesters and police.
After resisting the protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets
since Saturday, police lounged on sidewalks Tuesday as protesters
removed the barriers on a road leading to the prime minister's
office and walked through.
Earlier in the day, police used cranes to remove concrete slabs and
barbed wire barricades on a nearby road leading to the police
headquarters after agreeing to let the protesters into the building.
Monday marked some of the worst clashes since the daily protests
began last week. Protesters commandeered garbage trucks and
bulldozers, and tried to ram concrete barriers at Government House
and other offices. Police repelled them by firing tear gas, water
cannons and rubber bullets, as protesters shot back explosives from
homemade rocket launchers.
The three days of violence occurred mostly near Government House,
Parliament and the Metropolitan Police Bureau in the historic
quarter of the capital. The area has some of Bangkok's main tourist
attractions such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho temple and the
backpacker area of Khao San Road. Most of Bangkok, a city of 10
million, was unaffected by the clashes.
Political instability has plagued Thailand since the military ousted
Thaksin, who remains hugely popular among rural voters, in 2006. Two
years later, anti-Thaksin protesters occupied Bangkok's two airports
for a week after taking over the prime minister's office for three
months, and in 2010 pro-Thaksin protesters occupied downtown Bangkok
for weeks in a standoff that ended with parts of the city in flames
and more than 90 dead.
[Associated
Press; JINDA WEDEL and
TODD PITMAN]
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