PATTAYA, Thailand: Anti-government protesters stormed a convention center where leaders of Asian nations planned to meet yesterday, smashing doors and searching room by room for the prime minister. Thailand canceled the summit and airlifted the leaders out by helicopter. The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared victory and walked away from the complex after about an hour.
We have won. We have stopped them from holding a summit," Jakrapob Penkair, one of the protest leaders, said in the capital, Bangkok. "But we have not achieved our goal yet. We will continue to protest in Bangkok until Abhisit resigns." Abhisit, who has repeatedly refused to step down, went on national television and declared a state of emergency in the area surrounding the summit, but revoked it about six hours later after the leaders left safely. He called the protesters "enemies of Thailand.
The chaos is a huge embarrassment for Abhisit, who has been trying to project an image of calm and normality since taking power in a parliamentary vote four months ago after a court dissolved the previous government for election fraud. His ascent to power - the fifth Thai government in a little over two years - came after protests by a rival group of protesters shut down the capital's airports and endangered the country's tourism industry. The latest demonstrations raise tension in Thailand, where anti-gov ernment crowds as big as 100,000 marched in Bangkok this past week, and increased the threat of violence and a possible confrontation between the military and the protesters.
The situation has gotten completely out of hand. Violence and bloodshed is very much possible," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Bangkok's Thammasat University. "The country is very split and it might have reached the point of no return." More than 1,000 demonstrators smashed through the convention center's glass doors and ran through the building, overturning tables, blowing horns, waving Thai flags and screaming, "Abhisit get out!
They are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power. They say Abhisit was not elected by the people and should step down so new elections can be held. Asked by if he planned to resign, Abhisit said simply: "We have to restore law and order." Despite days of mass protests - including an attack on the prime minister's car - the Thai government had promised visiting heads of state that they would be safe from the un rest.
The leaders were evacuated by helicopter from Pattaya to a nearby military airport, said government spokesman Supachai Jaisamuth. "The meeting cannot go on. We have to consider the security of the leaders," Supachai said. "The situation is too violent and it is a security concern for the leaders." The protesters met little resistance from a thin line of unarmed soldiers in riot gear who were standing in front of the summit venue. When the protesters rushed toward the building and started pounding on the gl ass facade, the soldiers attempted to push them back but were overwhelmed by their numbers.
Officials had said that 8,000 police were being deployed for security, but few were seen around the summit venue in Pattaya, about 140 km southeast of Bangkok. "The government was clear from the beginning that the measures used against demonstrators wouldn't include any arms," said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. "We have to review the process again to see if these measures are appropriate for the next meeting.
Nine leaders from Southeast Asian nations were in a nearby hotel on the convention grounds at the time the protesters broke in, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat. Abhisit said the leaders were "very understanding" about the abrupt cancellation. It scuttled a chance for the leaders of 16 nations, including China, Japan and South Korea, to confer on ways to combat the global slump that has battered Asia's export-oriented economies. North Korea's recent rocket launch also was to be discussed at the gathering, which today was to include Australia, New Zealand and India for the full-fledged East Asia Summit.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said he hoped the summit could be rescheduled within the next few months. The summit started Friday with a dinner among leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but fell apart yesterday as protesters blocked access to some of the delegates' hotels.
Organizers had to delay - and then cancel - morning meetings between the leaders of ASEAN and China, South Korea and Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao managed to meet and discussed North Korea's recent rocket launch, Aso spokesman Osamu Sakashita said. The three agreed that a "strong message be issued unanimously at an early date," he said. The UN Security Council is trying to break a deadlock over how to respond to North Korea's Ap ril 5 launch.
The red shirts quickly abandoned Pattaya and headed back to Bangkok to resume the protests there, although the capital is in holiday mode for the Thai New Year. "We are leaving for Government House to continue fighting," said protester Kittisak Chimplewanasom. "We won this time, as we were able to show ASEAN that we don't need this prime minister.
Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid jail on a corruption conviction and is thought to be bankrolling the protests, phoned in to his "red shirts" at Government House in the evening. Less rabble-rousing than on some occasions, he thanked them for their sacrifice at this holiday time and asked them to be patient for a few more days as they were on the point of achieving something. "If our people in Bangkok and all the provinces unite, ... I think this time we can change the country. We will see real democracy with the king as the head of state," he said.
He is aiming to force Abhisit out and get new elections, which his supporters would most likely win. The billionaire was ousted in a 2006 coup, but his reconstituted party regained power after elections, sparking months of protests last year by yellow-shirted opponents. The "red shirts" say they had intended to protest peacefully but became infuriated when blue-shirted, pro-government vigilantes arrived, armed with clubs, bricks and slingshots. Thaksin alleged these were police and soldiers in disguise.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who had been due to attend the talks yesterday, led expressions of regret. "I hope for an early restoration of normalcy in Thailand and for the settlement of differences through dialogue and peaceful means," he said. Political commentator Thitinan Pongsudhirak said the protest movement had seriously undermined Abhisit's troubled administration and showed there was no end in sight to months of political drama. "Their goal is to make the government unable to function - I think certainly they have done that today," said the analyst from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. -- Agencies
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