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PATTAYA, Thailand : Thai anti-government demonstrators blockaded a summit of Asian leaders for a second day, forcing the postponement of two key meetings, with reports of three people injured.
The protesters have vowed to target the summit in the beach resort of Pattaya, which is supposed to be focused on the global economic crisis, until Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resigns.
Officials said that a meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had been postponed because of the rallies.
The announcement came after nearly 1,000 protesters wearing red shirts as a symbol of loyalty to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra moved towards the summit venue chanting slogans against Abhisit.
They were confronted by hundreds of pro-government supporters, wearing blue shirts and carrying sticks and bottles. Police kept the two sides apart but the stand-off blocked the road to the summit, AFP reporters said.
"The ASEAN-China summit has been postponed because of the attempts to block the arrangement of the leaders," Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters.
"The leaders still reaffirm that they are committed to hold this meeting. They have been informed of this development. We wish to ensure the safety of the leaders."
Earlier about 100 taxis driven by supporters of the movement against Abhisit blocked a key intersection outside a hotel in the town centre where the foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea were due to meet, AFP reporters said.
They prevented the Japanese minister's car from entering the meeting, which was set to discuss North Korea's recent rocket launch and economic issues, and the delegations cancelled the gathering, officials said.
"The meeting has been cancelled," a senior Chinese official told AFP.
About 2,000 demonstrators laid siege to the venue on Friday, the first day of the meeting. They dispersed overnight but returned early Saturday.
Deputy Thai government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut said the government was investigating unconfirmed reports that three people were shot and wounded Saturday in clashes about two kilometres (just over a mile) from the summit venue.
"There is an informal report of two or three injured, they are blue shirts. We don't know exactly but maybe the bullets came from the red shirts," he said.
Panitan said the situation would be under control "very soon."
"Of course the safety of the leaders and the people attending the conference is the most important to us, but we also have to be concrened about the demonstrators and other Thai people," he said.
"So we are working hard to make sure that all people are safe."
The summit groups ASEAN leaders plus their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Abhisit has repeatedly resisted calls to step down despite days of anti-government protests, both in Bangkok and at the summit.
His nemesis Thaksin, a billionaire populist who still has a loyal following among the country's poor but is loathed by the Bangkok elite, was ousted in a military coup in 2006.
Living in exile to avoid a two-year prison sentence for corruption, Thaksin has been egging on the protesters with nightly messages via videolink.
- AFP/vm
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