Thailand: Protests End, Political Challenges Remain

No Comments | April 15th, 2009 | Trackback

Several days of protests in Bangkok came to an end April 14 when combat troops surrounded a final crowd of 2,000 demonstrators and persuaded them to go home. The protesters, supporters of ousted former prime minister Thaksin, had besieged the prime minister’s residence, Government House, for 2 ½ weeks and plunged Bangkok into chaos over the weekend. Another group of protesters in Pattaya forced officials to cancel a major Asian summit. The government imposed a state of emergency in Bangkok to control the protests and did so with the loss of only two lives, attributed to clashes between protesters and residents. The emergency remained in place to prevent further unrest. The pro-Thaksin protests dealt another blow to Thailand’s prospects for tourism and business development following last year’s demonstrations that shut down Bangkok’s airports. Those protests were staged by Thailand’s other major political faction that opposes Thaksin, and their campaign was to bring down the prime minister who was viewed as a Thaksin crony. When the courts ruled the government was unconstitutional and dissolved it, the demonstrations ended.