Bangkok, May 2 (DPA) Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday called a special cabinet meeting to address increasingly violent protests in the capital which have claimed 27 lives.
Abhisit acknowledged in his weekly broadcast that the public was impatient with his failure to clear thousands of demonstrators from the heart of Bangkok’s main commercial district.
“The government has decided on a plan of action,” Abhisit said. “It’s in the process of being implemented but this plan needs to succeed and has to have the least negative impact,” he said.
He did not provide details, but convened a special cabinet session Sunday to discuss security measures against the protestors.
The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) seized the streets April 3, and has vowed to stay until Abhisit dissolves parliament and holds new elections.
The prime minister is under growing pressure to restore law and order, or bow to the demands.
The protesters have fortified their positions with barricades of rubber tyres and sharpened bamboo poles.
On Thursday, about 200 of them raided Chulalongkorn Hospital, which borders their protest site, claiming to be searching for soldiers there. But no soldiers were present, and the raid has sparked widespread criticism.
The protests began peacefully, but the tactics have grown more aggressive with Abhisit’s refusal to resign.
On April 7, demonstrators stormed parliament, forcing legislators to flee and prompting the government to declare an emergency.
Three days later, an attempt to clear the protesters from their main site in the old part of Bangkok led to street fighting that left 25 dead, including five soldiers, and more than 800 wounded.
The soldiers, caught by surprise, were attacked with weapons such as M79 grenade launchers and assault rifles.
There have been 70 attacks on government targets in less than two months. On April 22, five grenades were fired at pro-government civilians in the financial district, killing one woman and injuring more than 80.
Abhisit has blamed the violence on “terrorists” within the UDD, and vowed to take tough measures against the movement instead of bowing to their threats.
The political crisis is causing international concern that the civil conflict could spiral out of control.
“The Thai political system has broken down and seems incapable of pulling the country back from the brink of widespread conflict,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a “crisis risk alert” issued Saturday.
