| |
BANGKOK - Thailand was locked in political stalemate Sunday with demonstrators planning a fresh protest with their own blood after refusing talks offered by the government.
Buoyed by a huge parade, the defiant "Red Shirts" said they would paint their blood on a white canvas, left over from the gallons they have splattered on the prime minister's house and offices during their week-long protests.
The noisy carnival-like convoy in Bangkok on Saturday by the mainly rural supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra aimed to recruit urban support and revive the so-far peaceful rally, which had begun to wane.
The colourful convoy of trucks, cars and motorbikes, which brought traffic to a halt in parts of the city, swelled to 65,000 people, police said. The rally peaked at more than 100,000 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 Saikur, a Red Shirts leader, said.
Thaksin, who lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, spoke to supporters via videolink on Saturday night, thanking those who took part in the parade. "I'm really proud of you. I almost cried," he said.
"Today I want to invite everyone to join us to call for democracy. You don't have to wear red, but just have one ideology: democracy," said the ex-premier, who was deposed in a coup in 2006.
Earlier, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the demonstrators had agreed to meet one of his ministers.
He said senators had arranged for a meeting on Monday between minister Satit Wonghnongtaey, government official Korbsak Sabhavasu and two senior Red Shirts.
But upon returning to their main rally site, after waving flags and honking horns in a bid to win over Bangkok residents, the Red Shirts stuck to their demands for snap elections.
"We will talk only with Abhisit and with the condition of house dissolution," Nattawut told reporters after the day-long parade across the capital. He denied the Reds were "closing the door."
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.
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.
Abhisit, who has spent most of the rally holed up in an army barracks due to security fears, criticised the evocation of class struggle, saying it "incited social unrest."
He said Thaksin was an "obstacle to negotiation" between the government and Red Shirts.
A 50,000-strong security force has been in place in Bangkok and surrounding areas during the protests.
The protesters picketed the military base housing Abhisit last Monday and on Wednesday threw bags of their blood at the walls of his home, after a similar stunt at his office a day earlier.
Since Thaksin's ouster, 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/ir
|
