Thai protesters broke into abandoned government offices today in their escalating campaign to force the prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, from office. The prime minister, just back from visiting the revered king's seaside palace, meanwhile planned to return there this evening to consult on the crisis, a government official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Chamlong Srimuang, one of the leaders of the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy for whom an arrest warrant has been issued, ordered 45 PAD guards to break into the main government building this afternoon, activists said.
The PAD have been holding a protest camp in the grounds surrounding the building since Tuesday, and 15,000 people were rallying in the compound today. From Tuesday, Mr Samak has worked out of defence complexes, including the military headquarters and the defence ministry. "Chamlong told us to clean up the mess left by police, so that PAD's five supreme leaders can use the offices inside the building during the rally," an activist said.
The PAD expanded their campaign across the country yesterday, forcing the closure of three regional airports, provoking railway strikes and clashing with riot police in Bangkok. After yesterday's skirmishes with police caused minor injuries and rattled nerves in the coup-prone kingdom, Mr Samak flew from Bangkok around midnight to the king's residence in the nearby town of Hua Hin. The PAD protesters have squatted on the grounds of Mr Samak's Government House compound for five days, demanding that he resign and accusing him of acting as a puppet for ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The same group helped topple Mr Thaksin in 2006, and has openly called for the palace, the military and Thailand's traditional elite to take a greater role in politics. The PAD rails against popular democracy, saying it has encouraged corruption. Although the demonstrators regularly invoke the king, both in speeches and with royalist imagery, he has remained silent in the current standoff. The king has little formal political power, but he holds enormous sway over his subjects and has acted as a referee during past political crises in his six decades on the throne.
Protesters, meanwhile, at Government House appeared to be bracing for more clashes, as a handful of activists wearing motorcycle helmets practised combat techniques with homemade shields and bamboo rods. "We will not quit. We will not go home until we win," one woman shouted from a makeshift stage set up in their camp. Airports in the holiday resort of Phuket and two other southern towns were closed yesterday as protesters marched on them.
One small airport reopened today, but Phuket was still shut with 15,000 passengers stranded, the airport's director Wicha Nurnlop told reporters. About one quarter of Thailand's rail services have also been halted since yesterday, after nearly 250 drivers and mechanics called in sick to support the protests. PAD protesters have been demonstrating against Samak since May, but they stepped up their movement on Tuesday by storming a TV station and the Government House grounds.
The turmoil has raised fears of a new coup in a country that has seen 18 military takeovers since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932. The powerful army chief, General Anupong Paojinda, has so far insisted that the military will not return to the streets. Hoping to defuse the crisis, Samak has called for an emergency parliamentary debate tomorrow, but has refused to step down or call new elections.
*AFP