Neal
June 6th, 2012, 16:06
01/ Jun/ 2010
Thai Yellow-Shirt Protesters Halt Parliament Debate
Anti-government protesters brought Thailand's parliament to a halt on Friday, surrounding the complex and forcing the speaker to postpone debate on a reconciliation bill that critics say is aimed at allowing deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return home. This follows two days of the "worst chaos in the history of Thai parliament" - with opposition MPs of the Democrat Party miming the Nazi salute in front of the House speaker; throwing copies of documents and books at him; dragging the speakerтАЩs empty chair off the podium, sparking a scuffle with government MPs; and one opposition MP choking a member of the ruling Puea Thai party.
"I have ordered the meeting to be postponed indefinitely," House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont told reporters Friday afternoon. "We'll have to analyze the situation before determining when the meeting will be held again." Unconfirmed reports suggested that the ruling party was now looking for an alternative venue to convene a parliamentary session.
About 1,000 supporters of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), better known as the Yellow Shirts, and members of the ultra-royalist "multi-coloured" group, blocked roads Friday leading to Parliament. Protesters reportedly formed lines and pushed back police, disrupting officers from securing passage for MPs to enter Parliament. They denied entry to most lawmakers scheduled to discuss the so-called reconciliation bill, with reports saying that only opposition MPs of the Democrat Party were allowed access to the parliament.
The bill would grant amnesty to all parties involved in political violence and wrongdoing from the end of 2005 through mid-2010, a period when Thailand was wracked by political turmoil and protests. The Yellow Shirts oppose the reconciliation bill because they say the government will use a blanket amnesty to bring back self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra without him having to serve jail time for a graft conviction.
More than 1,000 demonstrators clad in yellow shirts and holding banners with anti-government slogans had gathered around parliament since early morning. Rally leaders set up a truck as a makeshift stage and took turns denouncing the government's national unity proposals as hundreds of riot police secured the parliament building.
"We need to deal with this government. If they don't listen to us, the PAD are experts at getting rid of prime ministers," Chamlong Srimuang, a yellow-shirt leader, told the cheering crowd.
The current government, elected last July, is led by ThaksinтАЩs sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and he is widely seen as pulling the strings from his base in Dubai.
The Yellow Shirts, drawn broadly from the ranks of the urban middle class and supporters of the traditional royalist-military elite, staged mass rallies against Thaksin before he was ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2006. They also helped undermine a pro-Thaksin government in 2008, holding protracted rallies and forcing the closure of BangkokтАЩs two airports for a week just before the courts disbanded the government that December
Reuters
Thai Yellow-Shirt Protesters Halt Parliament Debate
Anti-government protesters brought Thailand's parliament to a halt on Friday, surrounding the complex and forcing the speaker to postpone debate on a reconciliation bill that critics say is aimed at allowing deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return home. This follows two days of the "worst chaos in the history of Thai parliament" - with opposition MPs of the Democrat Party miming the Nazi salute in front of the House speaker; throwing copies of documents and books at him; dragging the speakerтАЩs empty chair off the podium, sparking a scuffle with government MPs; and one opposition MP choking a member of the ruling Puea Thai party.
"I have ordered the meeting to be postponed indefinitely," House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont told reporters Friday afternoon. "We'll have to analyze the situation before determining when the meeting will be held again." Unconfirmed reports suggested that the ruling party was now looking for an alternative venue to convene a parliamentary session.
About 1,000 supporters of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), better known as the Yellow Shirts, and members of the ultra-royalist "multi-coloured" group, blocked roads Friday leading to Parliament. Protesters reportedly formed lines and pushed back police, disrupting officers from securing passage for MPs to enter Parliament. They denied entry to most lawmakers scheduled to discuss the so-called reconciliation bill, with reports saying that only opposition MPs of the Democrat Party were allowed access to the parliament.
The bill would grant amnesty to all parties involved in political violence and wrongdoing from the end of 2005 through mid-2010, a period when Thailand was wracked by political turmoil and protests. The Yellow Shirts oppose the reconciliation bill because they say the government will use a blanket amnesty to bring back self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra without him having to serve jail time for a graft conviction.
More than 1,000 demonstrators clad in yellow shirts and holding banners with anti-government slogans had gathered around parliament since early morning. Rally leaders set up a truck as a makeshift stage and took turns denouncing the government's national unity proposals as hundreds of riot police secured the parliament building.
"We need to deal with this government. If they don't listen to us, the PAD are experts at getting rid of prime ministers," Chamlong Srimuang, a yellow-shirt leader, told the cheering crowd.
The current government, elected last July, is led by ThaksinтАЩs sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and he is widely seen as pulling the strings from his base in Dubai.
The Yellow Shirts, drawn broadly from the ranks of the urban middle class and supporters of the traditional royalist-military elite, staged mass rallies against Thaksin before he was ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2006. They also helped undermine a pro-Thaksin government in 2008, holding protracted rallies and forcing the closure of BangkokтАЩs two airports for a week just before the courts disbanded the government that December
Reuters