| |
BANGKOK : Thailand's prime minister said "Red Shirt" protesters had agreed on Saturday to talks with a government minister, as they bolstered their week-long rally with a carnival-like parade through Bangkok.
The mainly rural supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, dressed in their distinctive red, snaked through the city waving flags and honking horns in a bid to win over the capital's residents to their anti-government campaign.
As the colourful convoy of trucks, cars and motorbikes swelled to 65,000 people, according to police estimates, premier Abhisit Vejjajiva confirmed to reporters that dialogue between the two sides would begin on Monday at noon.
"Two government representatives, minister Satit (Wonghnongtaey) and PM secretary-general Korbsak Sabhavasu, and two Red Shirts, Weng (Tojirakarn) and Jaran Ditsatapichai, will hold talks as arranged by senators," he said.
The protesters, largely from poor northern areas, say Abhisit's government is illegitimate as it came to power with army backing via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling removed Thaksin's allies.
The Red Shirts had previously refused Abhisit's offer of dialogue until he bowed to their demand for snap elections, which he has rejected.
"It's difficult to say anything in advance but at least it's good to start talks," the premier said.
Thai media reported that protest leader Veera Musikapong had agreed to the talks, but another senior Red Shirt later denied the meeting would take place in the arranged circumstances, hinting at cracks in the movement's leadership.
"We will talk only with Abhisit and with the condition of house dissolution," Nattawut Saikur told reporters after the buoyant day-long parade across the capital, though he denied the Reds were "closing the door".
In what they have increasingly dubbed a "class war", the Reds say they are fighting Thailand's elite in bureaucratic, military and palace circles, whom they accuse of ousting elected governments.
Their noisy convoy, which halted traffic in some parts of town, was designed to recruit urban support and revive the so-far peaceful rally, which had begun to wane after peaking at more than 100,000 people when it began last weekend.
"We succeeded on our caravan today. We were warmly received and welcomed by Reds and also many people of other coloured shirts," Nattawut said.
Earlier, Abhisit, who has spent most of the rally holed up in an army barracks with other government members due to security fears, criticised the depiction of a class struggle because it "incited social unrest".
He also said Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, was an "obstacle to negotiation" between the government and Red Shirts.
The ex-premier, who lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, apologised to the city's residents on Friday night via videolink in advance of the expected traffic jams, saying he would "repay you when I return".
Authorities warned Bangkok residents to stay at home on Saturday and 1,000 traffic police officers were deployed along the route of up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) around the capital.
A 50,000-strong security force has been in place in Bangkok and surrounding areas this week.
The protesters picketed the military base housing Abhisit on Monday and on Wednesday threw bags of their blood at the walls of the prime minister's family home, after staging a similar stunt at his office a day earlier.
Since Thaksin was ousted, Thailand has been rocked by protests by both his supporters and his opponents, many of whom are in Bangkok and accuse him of corruption and of disloyalty to the revered royal family. - AFP/ms
|
