Protesters surround offices of Thai prime minister

[Joanne98]

Source: AP


BANGKOK: Thousands of protesters surrounded the Thai prime minister's office Tuesday, demanding that Parliament be dissolved and calling for new elections.

The protest by demonstrators from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, which is allied with Thaksin Shinawatra, the exiled former prime minister, came three days before Thailand is to host the annual summit meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. About 7,000 people attended the rally, the police said.

One of the protest leaders, Jakrapob Penkair, said the demonstration was intended to show Thailand's neighbors that the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had no right to govern.

Abhisit became prime minister in December after a court ruling that removed a government of Thaksin's allies. Abhisit's Democrat Party, which finished second in a general election in December 2007, cobbled together a coalition from defecting supporters of the previous administration.

"This government is full of robbers," Jatuporn Phromphan, a protester, said to loud cheers. "We did not vote for them. The majority of this country did not vote for them but somehow they are in power because the elite want them to be."



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/24/asia/thai.1-436567.php

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We Thailand be the next government to fall?