Anti-Government Protesters Break into Thai Army Compound


Anti-Government Protesters Break into Thai Army Compound

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – About 1,000 anti-government protesters forced their way into the compound of the Royal Thai Army headquarters in Bangkok on Friday, the latest escalation in a city-wide demonstration seeking to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

"We want to know which side the army stands on," shouted one protester, as others scrambled over the compound's red iron gates in Bangkok's historic quarter. In another area of the city, hundreds gathered outside Yingluck's ruling party headquarters, shouting "Get out, get out".

They accuse Yingluck of abusing her party's parliamentary majority to push through laws that strengthen the behind-the-scenes power of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, Reuters reported.

On Thursday, they rejected her call for dialogue, deepening a conflict that broadly pits the urban middle class against the mostly rural supporters of Thaksin, a divisive billionaire ousted in a 2006 military coup and central to Thailand's eight years of on-off turmoil.

The protest leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, a deputy prime minister in the previous government, told thousands of supporters occupying a state office complex late on Thursday that "the end game will happen in the next day or two".

Yingluck has ruled out resigning or dissolving parliament, and appears intent on riding out the storm. As tension mounts, her government has urged its supporters and the police to avoid confronting the demonstrators, who it says are running out of steam.

 

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