Red Shirt protesters flood Bangkok streets
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
BANGKOK, Apr 6 (AP): Tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters took over sections of Thailand's capital Tuesday, pelting police with eggs and dancing in the streets as they pushed through barricades to press the prime minister to call new elections.
Minor scuffles erupted around Bangkok, and a grenade exploded in the parking lot of the ruling Democrat Party's headquarters, injuring two police, party officials said. Dozens of similar unclaimed blasts have targeting government offices since protests started March 12.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva went on national television to say that the protests had broken the law but the government would continue its policy of tolerance to avoid violence.
For several hours Tuesday, traffic was stopped along main boulevards in Bangkok's business district before the anti-government protesters retreated to the city's upscale shopping district, where they have been camped since Saturday. Malls there remained shuttered for a fourth day.
The protesters, many of them farmers from impoverished provincial areas who have characterized their movement as a class war against the Bangkok elite, have sworn not to let up their pressure until Abhisit steps down and calls new elections. Abhisit has offered to call elections by the year's end, but the protesters want quicker action.
AFP adds: A grenade exploded Tuesday outside the party headquarters of Thailand's embattled prime minister, injuring two policemen, officials said, as mass anti-government protests paralysed central Bangkok.
"The grenade was fired and landed in the parking lot behind the party headquarters, wounding two policemen," said Democrat party spokesman Satit Pitutacha.
Minor scuffles erupted around Bangkok, and a grenade exploded in the parking lot of the ruling Democrat Party's headquarters, injuring two police, party officials said. Dozens of similar unclaimed blasts have targeting government offices since protests started March 12.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva went on national television to say that the protests had broken the law but the government would continue its policy of tolerance to avoid violence.
For several hours Tuesday, traffic was stopped along main boulevards in Bangkok's business district before the anti-government protesters retreated to the city's upscale shopping district, where they have been camped since Saturday. Malls there remained shuttered for a fourth day.
The protesters, many of them farmers from impoverished provincial areas who have characterized their movement as a class war against the Bangkok elite, have sworn not to let up their pressure until Abhisit steps down and calls new elections. Abhisit has offered to call elections by the year's end, but the protesters want quicker action.
AFP adds: A grenade exploded Tuesday outside the party headquarters of Thailand's embattled prime minister, injuring two policemen, officials said, as mass anti-government protests paralysed central Bangkok.
"The grenade was fired and landed in the parking lot behind the party headquarters, wounding two policemen," said Democrat party spokesman Satit Pitutacha.