Thais take to the streets to protest military regime
The Thai military frees up some political parties, while banning the most popular one.
By Daniel Ten Kate | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the June 12, 2007 edition
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Bangkok, Thailand - In what amounts to the largest display of dissatisfaction with Thailand's military junta since a bloodless coup last September, thousands have taken to the streets in the Thai capital to protest what critics of military rule say is an illegitimate government that seeks to disenfranchise a large segment of Thai society.
Many critics are incensed by government plans to speed up both a referendum on a draft Constitution and a new election that may exclude many followers of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thousands have attended daily protests in Bangkok to hear rants against the coup leaders and praise for the deposed prime minister, who has trotted around the globe in exile since the putsch last fall. On Saturday, about 13,000 people showed up – the largest group yet – and some ended up marching to Army headquarters where they demanded the military leaders resign.
"We have a volatile situation that could lead to violence," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The dismantlement of Thai Rak Thai [TRT] and the ban of the 111 executives has exacerbated the political scene, and now TRT people are cornered. They don't have much more to lose."
The protests, largely dormant in the months after the coup, have since intensified after a May 30 decision by a junta-appointed court to dissolve TRT, Mr. Thaksin's old party, and ban 111 senior leaders from politics for five years. In the wake of the decision, the military-backed regime has taken steps to allow existing political parties to campaign while excluding former TRT members and seizing Thaksin's assets.
Immediately after Thaksin's party was dissolved, the government lifted a ban on political activity that had been in place since the coup, but it still prevents citizens from registering new political parties to contest the elections. Since TRT officials say they hope to register a new party with the same name, the party may not be eligiblee to participate in the December elections.
In statements to reporters last week, Chaturon Chaiseng, TRT's former acting leader, said that without representation for the millions of rural poor who form TRT's base, the country faces perpetual instability.
