Thai Protests

BANGKOK — Thailand’s political crisis worsened Tuesday when antigovernment protesters trapped lawmakers inside the Parliament building and fought running battles with the police that left one person dead and nearly 400 injured.

Riot police officers beat an antigovernment protester outside Parliament in Bangkok on Tuesday. At least one person was killed during a series of street battles.
The violence on Tuesday included attacks on the Thai police by protesters armed with sticks. Lawmakers were trapped inside Parliament for several hours before they were able to escape.

The army was deployed on the streets of Bangkok after the worst political violence since 1992 as protesters continued a six-week sit-in outside the prime minister’s office, forcing the government to conduct its business from a former international airport.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat asserted that he would not step down, and the military repeated a promise not to stage a coup, while the protesters said they would continue their actions until they brought down the government.

They accuse the ruling party of being an extension of the rule of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was elected on a populist program in 2001 and ousted in a coup in September 2006. He now lives in London but continues to exert influence among his allies here.

The protesters surrounded Parliament throughout the day Tuesday, and Mr. Somchai left by escaping over a back fence in the morning after delivering a policy address. But other members of Parliament were unable to leave for more than five hours, until the police dispersed the protesters with volleys of tear gas.

The Thai military announced that it would deploy unarmed troops to help the police keep peace in the days to come.

“We ran, ran, ran,” said one Parliament member, Niyom Vejkarma, who had stripped off his jacket and tie and fled from the building in his patent leather shoes.

“My eyes are sore,” he said, referring to the tear gas that lingered in the air as he and fellow lawmakers stood at a street corner with their cellphones and called their drivers.

The assault on Parliament was the culmination of an escalating feud between an urban elite trying to reclaim traditional hierarchical authority and a democratically elected government backed by a rising rural underclass.

The protesters were led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, a patchwork coalition of businessmen, academics and activists who have held street demonstrations against the government since May, and occupied the grounds on Aug. 26...

For Full Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/asia/08thai.html?hp

From Al Jazeera:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/10/200810782816931123.html

The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/3151874/Thai-army-deployed-in-Bangkok-after-bomb-leads-to-coup-fears.html