Thailand’s prime minister rejected demands from anti-government protesters to quit today as demonstrators clashed with police in Bangkok.
At least three people died and 50 others were seriously injured in street battles over the weekend after a week of largely peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins of government offices turned violent. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban was reported to have given the government of Yingluck Shinawatra two days to leave office after a meeting arranged with her by the army last night.
Mr Suthep said afterwards: “There was no negotiation and no compromise ... until a victory for the people.” In a televised news conference, Ms Yingluck said she was willing to “open every door” for negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to Thailand’s biggest political crisis in years.
Mr Suthep said he will not be satisfied with her resignation or new elections. He wants an unelected “people’s council” to pick a new prime minister.
But Ms Yingluck said: “Right now we don’t see any way to resolve the problem under the constitution.”
The protesters are mostly middle-class supporters of the opposition Democrat Party. They claim her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is actually running the country from self-imposed exile in Dubai after being convicted of corruption. He was deposed in a 2006 military coup but remains central to Thailand’s political crisis. The protesters, who call themselves the People’s Democratic Reform Committee, say their goal is to uproot his political machine. After a weekend of chaos in parts of Bangkok, protesters re-grouped outside the barricaded prime minister’s office compound and clashed with police who fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
