Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

.. was surprised last night, on tv news, at the restraint of the police and the military ..

Thai Police Surround Protesters at Premier's Office (Update1)

By Daniel Ten Kate and Rattaphol Onsanit

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Thai riot police surrounded the office of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, laying siege to thousands of protesters who broke into the Bangkok compound yesterday calling for his resignation.

Thousands of police in riot gear set up a periphery around the office complex, leading to minor scuffles, according to footage broadcast on Thailand's TNN television station. Medical personnel were seen preparing bandages.

Samak threatened to arrest leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy, an anti-government group that led about 30,000 protesters yesterday to block roads and break into other government buildings. He called their demands ``unreasonable' and said police would lay siege to the office complex to force out the almost 5,000 people who camped there overnight.

``We are not going anywhere,' Suriyasai Katasila, a People's Alliance spokesman, said in an interview with Channel 3 today. They're prepared to face arrest, he added.

The People's Alliance says Samak runs the government at the behest of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and fled to London earlier this month to escape corruption charges. The military has pledged to stay on the sidelines as the protests take a toll on the economy, contributing to a 24 percent decline in the benchmark SET Index since they began May 25. The baht is trading close to its weakest level in almost a year.

Provoke Violence

Samak, who accused protest leaders of trying to provoke violence, said any police response would be ``soft and gentle.' The government collected evidence against the protest leaders and will ask the court to issue arrest warrants, he said.

The protesters ``want anyone to stop them to make a spark,' Samak told international journalists yesterday in a rare English-language news briefing. ``They want bloodshed in the country. They want the military to come out and stage the coup again.'

Thailand's army chief ruled out a coup yesterday, and Samak spent the day at army headquarters. The military also allowed state-run NBT television to broadcast from its headquarters after protesters seized control of NBT's office yesterday.

``If Samak doesn't react hastily and holds his ground, the protesters may become frustrated,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The protesters are aiming to provoke the government into an overreaction, he said.

Peaceful Protests

The demonstrations are led by Sondhi Limthongkul, a former business associate of Thaksin who fell out with him in 2005 and then formed the People's Alliance. He faces arrest along with four other key leaders for public disorder, failing to disperse and trying to abolish administrative power, Samak said.

Demonstrations proceeded peacefully at Government House late yesterday, with organizers giving speeches and playing nationalist songs from a makeshift stage as protesters danced, waved flags and slept. Police had abandoned the office complex in preparation for the siege early today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at [e-mail]; Rattaphol Onsanit in Bangkok at [e-mail]
Last Updated: August 26, 2008 21:49 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ai5I81L1jxgo&refer=asia