Anti-government Thai demonstrators besiege premier`s office

Bangkok: Anti-government protesters on Monday besieged the Government House in the Thai capital to prevent caretaker Premier Yingluck Shinawatra from working there, even as the Election Commission and ministers failed to strike a deal on holding elections to 28 seats in parliament.

People's Democratic Reform Committee (PRDC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban led a march of thousands of demonstrators, who set up the stage from where their leaders will take turns to speak out against the government.

Suthep and other core leaders then helped block the Government House by pouring cement into the moulds of the barriers.

"I fear, I may offend the military by laying siege to the Government House, but if I don't, I will seize it. We are sure that our protest will bring down Thaksin Regime," Suthep told a cheering crowd.

"If we don't, then Thaksin's son, Panthongtae or Oak will surely become the new prime minister. I pledge to all my brothers and sisters that I have the spirit to fight until the bitter end."

Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn met with some senior ministers and legal advisers from Yingluck's ruling Pheu Thai party to discuss the holding of in 28 seats where there was no balloting during the February 2 election boycotted by the opposition Democrat Party.

After the meeting, caretaker Deputy Premier Pongthep Thepkanchana said the government had suggested that the poll panel should hold fresh elections where voting was canceled within 30 days or by March 30, when Senate elections will be held.

Voting should not be delayed until April as the panel had earlier proposed, Pongthep said.

A total of 28 constituencies in southern Thailand, a stronghold of the opposition, did not vote in the February 2 polls.

First Published: Monday, February 17, 2014, 23:57

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