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BANGKOK - Thailand revoked the passport of Thaksin Shinawatra Wednesday, escalating a campaign against the exiled former premier and his allies for allegedly inciting deadly anti-government protests.
Authorities said they were also hunting the organisers of the mass demonstrations that left two people dead and 123 injured this week, after a court issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and 12 core supporters.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has vowed to prosecute all leaders of the protests, which broke up on Tuesday after troops threatened to use force against thousands of demonstrators camped outside his offices.
The government said Thaksin's passport was cancelled for his alleged incitement of protests that forced the cancellation of a major summit of Asian leaders in Thailand on Saturday.
"The foreign ministry has cancelled his passport," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told AFP. "The incident on the 11th is the reason."
"The decision to cancel his passport was based on passport issuing regulations, which state that the ministry can cancel or recall a passport if it can prove that a person has caused damage to the country," he said.
Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption. He has made a series of speeches to his supporters in Thailand by videolink and phone in recent weeks.
The billionaire tycoon said last month that he was in Dubai but his current whereabouts are unknown. The government cancelled Thaksin's diplomatic passport in December.
Thai police said earlier that they were searching for the other protest leaders named in arrest warrants. Three have been charged and are in detention while the others remain at large.
"An investigation team is looking for them and checking their home towns to present warrants," said Bangkok police commander Lieutenant General Worapong Shewpreecha.
"Police have checked with immigration and found that there are no records of them leaving the country," he said, adding that further warrants would be sought from the courts for other rally organisers.
The warrants accuse protest leaders of breaching the emergency measures put in place Sunday, threatening acts of violence and inciting others to break the law.
Troops and police on Wednesday manned security checkpoints around the capital, where a state of emergency declared by Abhisit on Sunday remains in force.
Bangkok was quiet as residents enjoyed a final day of Buddhist New Year celebrations ahead of an extra two days of public holiday announced by the government in the wake of the protests.
"The situation is under control," said Panitan. "The prime minister wants to lift the state of emergency as soon as he can because he does not want to affect business."
Demonstrators loyal to Thaksin, known as "Red Shirts" because of their trademark attire, surrounded Abhisit's offices three weeks ago to demand his resignation before moving to the resort of Pattaya to disrupt the summit.
They accuse British-born Abhisit of being a stooge of Thailand's powerful military and of coming to power illegally after Thaksin's allies were removed from government by a court in December.
The protesters returned to Bangkok on Monday where they fought running street battles with armed troops in which two local residents who challenged the protesters were killed.
The English-language Bangkok Post accused the protest leaders and Thaksin of "heinous crimes" while another newspaper, The Nation, said the peaceful end to the riots had strengthened Abhisit.
Last year yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin protesters mounted a street campaign peaking in a siege of the capital's airports, but the leaders have yet to be prosecuted.
Thailand has been through years of turmoil since Thaksin's ouster, with deep rifts between Thaksin's largely poor supporters and his establishment foes in the palace, military and bureaucracy.
- AFP /ls
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