Thai Protesters Occupy Premier’s Temporary Office

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Thousands of anti-government protesters occupied Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s temporary office, three months after taking over the official Government House compound in central Bangkok.

“We will go wherever the premier goes,” said Parnthep Pongpourpan, a spokesman for the People’s Alliance for Democracy, whose members also gathered at the nearby Thai military headquarters. Two people were wounded today when shots were fired during a clash between anti- and pro-government supporters on a Bangkok highway, Agence France-Presse reported, citing police.

Anti-government protesters yesterday blockaded parliament, forcing lawmakers to abandon a legislative session, and said they may confront Somchai at Bangkok’s new international airport tomorrow when he returns from an Asia Pacific summit in Peru. The premier has rejected calls for his resignation, and police have avoided clashing with the PAD after an Oct. 7 incident at parliament in which two people died and 470 were injured.

“We will have to negotiate for the return of our offices,” said government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar, estimating that several thousand protesters were at the temporary offices in the former Don Mueang Airport. The location of tomorrow’s scheduled cabinet meeting hasn’t been decided.
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport was closed due to protests today, Agence France-Presse reported, citing airport authorities. The international airport canceled all departing flights after demonstrators surged into a terminal, the Associated Press reported.

Shots Fired

Anti-government demonstrators fired shots today after government supporters began throwing rocks at a truck carrying PAD members as it was returning from the old airport, the Associated Press reported, citing Thai PBS television. The anti- government group then chased their opponents, who numbered several dozen, AP said.

The Bangkok-based protest group, which includes many middle- class residents and receives support from the country’s royalist elite, accuses Somchai’s ruling party of buying votes to win elections and opposes former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a September 2006 coup. At least five people have died as a result of the protests since August.

Army Chief Anupong Paojinda met other military chiefs to discuss the protests today and reiterated their commitment not to stage another coup, according to army spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong.

Thaksin, who fled in August to avoid corruption charges, said he will return to Thailand at some point, according to an interview with Dubai-based Arabian Business published Nov. 23.

‘Bring Confidence’

“The country is going down deeply,” Thaksin was quoted as saying in the report. “I can bring confidence quickly back to Thailand.”

Somchai, Thaksin’s brother-in-law, has called for national unity as Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy faces its slowest growth in eight years.

Thailand’s gross domestic product may expand as little as 3 percent next year, the National Economic and Social Development Board said yesterday. That would be the slowest pace since a 2.2 percent rate in 2001 and less than the central bank’s lowest estimate of 3.8 percent.