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Thai protesters consider breaking for holiday

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Anti-government protesters in Thailand are considering suspending their demonstrations for the Thai New Year, one of their leaders said Friday.

The thousands of protesters have rallied for days to demand that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down.

Nattavut Saikuea, a protest leader, said demonstrations may be suspended to allow Thais to celebrate the New Year from Monday through Wednesday next week.

Meanwhile, police have ordered tightened security measures around Bangkok after receiving intelligence that protesters may start fires and set off bombs Friday night, the commander of the Metropolitan Police said.

The bombs would be intended only to make loud noises as a way to create panic in the city, Lt. Gen. Worapong Chiewpreecha said.

He said he increased police checkpoints to more than 170 and asked the military to support the security effort.

Many Thais began leaving the capital city, Bangkok, on Friday to reach their homes in other parts of the country, leaving the streets to demonstrators.

Also Friday, hundreds of anti-government protesters amassed outside a hotel hosting a major Asian summit.

Some of the protesters and police engaged in shoving and shouting matches outside the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in the beach resort city of Pattaya. But the demonstrations have been without incident otherwise.

The hotel is the site of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. The demonstrators have said they will not try to disrupt the meetings inside.

The protesters had given Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva until Thursday afternoon to give in to their demands to step down. He ignored them.

Thailand is in the midst of a political crisis, with "red shirt" protesters rallying daily. The protesters, named for their clothing, say Abhisit was not democratically elected. They want him to schedule elections.

The protesters are loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. He fled Bangkok last year while facing trial on corruption charges.

The demonstrators ebb and flow in numbers. Attendance reached almost 100,000 on Wednesday but fell Thursday morning, said Metropolitan Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Suporn Pansuea.

Lawmakers named the 44-year-old, Oxford University-educated Abhisit prime minister in December.
Before then, a party loyal to Thaksin was in power -- and Thailand was contending with another group of protesters.

Those demonstrators -- the "yellow shirts" -- wanted Thaksin to return to Thailand to face the corruption charges. And they wanted the Thaksin-aligned People Power Party, which came to power in a general election, to step down.

Months of protests followed. Demonstrators occupied the government headquarters and blockaded Bangkok's major international airport, stranding tourists who provide much of the country's revenue.

he demonstrations ended in early December when a court ruled that the People Power Party was guilty of electoral fraud and threw Thaksin's brother-in-law out of the prime minister's seat.The red-shirt protesters said this week that they would not take over airports.

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Explainer: Thailand's ongoing political crisis

(CNN) -- The declaration of a state of emergency in Thailand following violent clashes between anti-government and security forces marks the latest escalation in a long-running

political crisis which has plunged the southeast Asian country into frequent bouts of disorder and instability.

This weekend's protests, which included forcing the postponement of a summit of Asian leaders in the southern coastal city of Pattaya and demonstrations on the streets of Bangkok,

were orchestrated by red-shirted supporters of the controversial and corruption-tainted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin -- a multibillionaire media tycoon elected in 2001 on a populist platform that promised universal healthcare and cash handouts to poor villagers -- was ousted from power

in a bloodless army coup in 2006 and has been in exile abroad since being sentenced last October to two years in prison after being convicted of a corruption charge by Thailand's Supreme Court.

But Thaksin remains a polarizing figure in Thailand, commanding substantial support in the countryside.

Until last year, Thaksin's allies had remained in power with the government headed by the exiled prime minister's brother-in law, Somchai Wongsawat, despite disruptive protests by the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose supporters dressed in yellow and represented Thailand's traditional ruling class, suspicious of Thaksin's populist model of democracy.

But the PAD achieved its goal of ousting Somchai in December after a week-long occupation of the prime ministerial Government House offices and blockading Bangkok's main airports, stranding thousands of tourists.

Thailand's Constitutional Court subsequently disbanded Somchai's People Power Party for electoral fraud and barred Somchai from office for five years, paving the way for Thai

lawmakers to elect opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as prime minister. iReport.com: "Red shirts" take to streets

But Thaksin's supporters insist that Abhisit was not democratically elected and have vowed to protest until fresh elections are held.

On Sunday, Thaksin told protesters via a video link from an unknown location that he would return home to lead them in a march on the capital if necessary.

"Now that they have tanks on the street and the soldiers are coming out, so it is time for the people to come out for a revolution," Thaksin said.

Writing in a blog, CNN's Bangkok Correspondent Dan Rivers said he saw five possible scenarios emerging from the current crisis.

Firstly, Abhisit could call a snap election, which he would be unlikely to win because Thaksin's allies continue to lead polls.

Secondly, he could resign, resulting in the creation of another coalition which would struggle to unify the rival factions, leaving open the likelihood of further protests from one side or the other.

Thirdly, Thaksin could return from exile to lead a red-shirted uprising; a scenario which Rivers describes as "messy and bloody." iReport.com: "Numerous buses set ablaze"

Fourthly, the army could again intervene, as it has done in the past, although Rivers says that would do little to heal the deep divisions between both sides.

Finally, Rivers said, Abhisit could choose to ride out the protests or "get tough." But both strategies would likely damage his standing.

"Trying to ignore the protests will leave him looking even weaker; ordering a violent crack-down may simply harden the resolve of the red shirts and provide fodder to their questionable claims that Abhisit has dictatorial tendencies," Rivers said. See

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New Year celebrations make a splash
This week, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and parts of India are ushering in their New Year.

According to the traditional Bengali Calendar, a solar calendar used in West Bengal and Bangladesh, we have just begun the year 1416,

while the Theravada Buddhist lunisolar calendar, used in Laos and Thailand has just entered the year 2552. In Cambodia it's now 2553, while it is 1371 in Myanmar.

There's been no shortage of color and spectacle to mark the occasion. In Nepal, revelers ended up covered in vermilion powder at the "Bisket Jatra" festival,

while in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, traditional celebrations involved revelers getting more than a little damp during "water-splashing" festivals.

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Shooting at Thai mosque kills 10, police say

June 8, 2009
(CNN) -- Gunmen believed to be linked to an Islamic militant group opened fire Monday in a mosque in Thailand, killing 10 people, a police official said.

Another 12 people were wounded, according to Peerapol Na Pattalung, chief of Joh I-Rong police station in Narathiwat province, southern Thailand. The wounded were sent to hospital.

Worshippers were holding evening prayers at Unpurakorn Mosque when the shooting took place about 7:50 p.m. (8:50 a.m. ET), the police chief said.

The region has faced increasing violence stemming from the activities of Islamic separatists.

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Keeping it local:
Community tourism in Thailand

August 4, 2009
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- A Bangkok Airways plane crashed at an airport at a resort island in Thailand, killing the pilot and injuring 37 people Tuesday, aviation officials said.

The plane carrying 68 people and four crew members skidded and then crashed after landing at Koh Samui airport, officials with the civil aviation department said.

The ATR-72 turboprop had taken off from the town of Krabi on the west coast Thailand for its trip to the resort island of Koh Samui.

Air traffic control warned the pilot of volatile winds before the plane landed, aviation officials said.

Seven people were seriously injured and emergency officials were working to free the plane's co-pilot who was trapped in the plane, officials said. 

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Thai police: 20 people wounded in car bomb

August 25, 2009
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- About 20 people were wounded Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near a Buddhist restaurant in southern Thailand, police said.

The bombing occurred in Narathiwat province around lunch time, a local police sergeant said.The car used in the attack had been stolen

from a civil servant who had been killed by Islamic insurgents, police said. The bomb was detonated by a cell phone, they said.

Bombings are an ongoing issue in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where an Islamic insurgency that flared in January 2004 has resulted in the deaths of about 3,000 people

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Thais protest peacefully against military governmen

September 19, 2009

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of a military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

About 30,000 protesters, who wore red shirts in support of Thaksin, gathered in the country's capital near the Government House, said police Lt. Gen. Tritote Ronnarithvichai. The crowd was calm and there was no sign of violence, he said.

The demonstration was expected to end by midnight.Thaksin, who served two terms as prime minister, was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006 while he was in New York attending a United Nations summit.

He remains well-liked among people in northernThailand because of his populist policies.Separately on Saturday, members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, an anti-Thaksin group, clashed with local residents in the northeastern province of Sisaket, near the disputed Preah Vihear border with Cambodia, government spokesman Panitan Wattanayakorn said.

The national Thai News Agency reported that PAD members, who were opposing Cambodian construction in the contested area,

broke through barricades to march toward the ancient Preah Vihear temple and clashed with local residents who opposed the march.

The two sides "used catapults and sticks to hurt each other" before Thai police separated them."A number of villagers were reported injured in the clash," the news agency said.

Both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to the 11th century temple. It sits atop a cliff on Cambodian soil but has its most accessible entrance on the Thai side.

The issue reignited last summer after the United Nations approved Cambodia's application to have the temple listed as a World Heritage Site, places the U.N. says have outstanding universal value.

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- About 20 people were wounded Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near a Buddhist restaurant in southern Thailand, police said.

The bombing occurred in Narathiwat province around lunch time, a local police sergeant said.The car used in the attack had been stolen from a civil servant who had been killed by Islamic insurgents, police said. The bomb was detonated by a cell phone, they said.

The issue reignited last summer after the United Nations approved Cambodia's application to have the temple listed as a World Heritage Site, places the U.N. says have outstanding universal value.

Some in Thailand feared the decision would make it difficult for their country to lay claim to disputed land around the temple

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Blast kills 2 in southern Thailand, police say

December 7, 2009

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- An explosion killed at least two people Monday in a city in southern Thailand, a police official who is familiar with the investigation said.

The blast occurred around 6 p.m. (6 a.m. ET) in a market in Muang District, which is the main city of Narathiwat Province, said the police official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the news media.

The explosion happened at the market's busiest time of the day.nitial reports indicate two people were killed and nine hurt, the official said.

The explosion happened as Malaysia's prime minister is to begin a three-day trip to southern Thailand, where a Muslim insurgency has caused violence for years.

The Narathiwat province is one of three Muslim provinces in southern Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country.

Thai PM admits boat people pushed out to sea

February 12, 2009
The story

Thailand's prime minister suspects there were "some instances" in which Myanmar's Rohingya boat people were pushed out to sea, a frank admittance of a practice drawing worldwide condemnation.

In an exclusive interview with CNN Thursday, Abhisit Vejjajiva said he could not pinpoint who in the government approved the practice, but said he was working on rectifying the problem.

"It's not exactly clear whose work it is," Vejjajiva said. "All the authorities say it's not their policy, but I have reason to believe some instances of this happened, but if I can have the evidence as to who exactly did this I will certainly bring them to account."

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Thailand's prime minister suspects there were "some instances" in which Myanmar's Rohingya boat people were pushed out to sea, a frank admittance of a practice drawing worldwide condemnation.

n an exclusive interview with CNN Thursday, Abhisit Vejjajiva said he could not pinpoint who in the government approved the practice, but said he was working on rectifying the problem.

"It's not exactly clear whose work it is," Vejjajiva said. "All the authorities say it's not their policy, but I have reason to believe some instances of this happened, but if I can have the evidence as to who exactly did this I will certainly bring them to account."

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