Thailand invokes security act for Thaksin protests
Posted: 24 November 2009 1722 hrs

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BANGKOK - Thailand's government agreed Tuesday to impose a harsh security law across the whole of Bangkok for the first time, ahead of fresh protests by supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Internal Security Act allows the government to deploy troops, ban gatherings and impose curfews to control the so-called "Red Shirt" movement and will be in force across the capital from Saturday until December 14.

The "Red Shirts" say they will rally Saturday in central Bangkok, march near Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's offices the next day, remain on the streets until December 2 then disperse ahead of the king's birthday on December 5.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government needed to invoke the security law to ensure law and order during the 82nd birthday celebrations for the widely revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch.

"During that time the government will have to prepare for the trooping of the color and other state functions, so in order to ensure security the government will impose the Internal Security Act," he told reporters.

Abhisit said the government had to put the entire capital under the security law because demonstrators would likely march to several places in the city.

It is the sixth time this year that the Democrat Party-led government has imposed the act but previous occasions have been in limited areas of Bangkok and other cities.

The Red Shirts want Abhisit to quit and call fresh elections, saying that he came to power unfairly after allies of Thaksin were driven from government in December 2008 when rival "Yellow Shirts" blockaded Bangkok's airports.

In April rampaging Red Shirts forced the cancellation of an Asian summit and then rioted in Bangkok for two days, leaving two people dead.

Thaksin was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and is living in exile to avoid corruption charges, but he has stirred up a series of protests in the past year by videolink and telephone.

He angered the government earlier this month by visiting neighbouring Cambodia in his new capacity as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh.

- AFP /ls