Date:06/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010654831300.htm

International

Thai protesters threaten to blockade ASEAN summit

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Puea Thai Party MP Chatuporn Prompan said on Monday the anti-government Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) protesters had planned to besiege any place where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit might be held in Thailand next month.

During an “off-Parliament” debate focusing on the Abhisit administration, Mr. Chatuporn said the DAAD protesters have called on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to immediately dissolve the House of Representatives and call a general election.

Mr. Chatuporn warned that the DAAD protesters might as well deny Mr. Abhisit Cabinet access to Government House as the Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD) had done to previous governments. Mr. Chatuporn urged Mr. Abhisit to take legal action against key leaders of the Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy who had occupied the Government House and shut down Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports late last year. Meanwhile, a police officer was killed and another severely injured in a clash with a group of insurgents in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat Monday morning.

The violence in the southernmost provinces has killed over 3,500 people since its resurrection in January 2004. — Xinhua