Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva maintained
Wednesday that his government had acted with restraint and
transparency in last week's crackdown on violent protests in Bangkok
that left two people dead and 123 injured.
'Only two people died, and six were injured by bullets, including
two soldiers and four civilians,' Abhisit told a joint session of the
upper and lower houses of parliament.
The two known casualties have been blamed on the followers of the
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the movement
that has held regular protests against Abhisit's 4-month-old
government and called for its dissolution.
The UDD supports the return to power of Thaksin Shinawatra, a
former billionaire telecommunications tycoon who was prime minister
from 2001-06.
The special joint session of parliament was being held Wednesday
and Thursday to discuss the cabinet's handling of the anti-government
protests on April 11-14 that culminated in the humiliating
cancellation of a regional summit Thailand was hosting, and the
enforcement of emergency law to restore order in Bangkok.
While Abhisit and the army have been widely commended for using
restraint in quelling the demonstrations, which turned violent on
April 13 when protestors blocked streets, burned 20 public buses and
threatened to ignite gas trucks, the UDD and its backers insisted the
casualties have been understated.
The Puea Thai opposition party claimed it would use the joint
session to present evidence that protestors died in the crackdown
despite government denials.
To date, their claims of unreported deaths have been discredited
although Abhisit has vowed to investigate any new evidence.
'I sincerely believe that most of the protestors were innocent,
and only a few core leaders turned a peaceful demonstration into a
violent one,' Abhisit said.
The government has arrested at least 34 protest leaders, 23 of
whom were released on bail Tuesday, and issued arrest warrants for
more than a dozen others, including Thaksin, on charges of inciting
the unrest.
The swift arrests were criticized by the UDD and opposition, who
accused Abhisit's government of double standards in enforcing the law.
The leaders of the UDD's rival, the People's Alliance for
Democracy (PAD), the movement that last year closed down Bangkok's
two airports, have yet to be sentenced for damage they did to the
country.
The Democrat party, which Abhisit leads, was supportive of the PAD
movement last year when it was in the opposition.
Thailand has been deeply divided since 2006 when its society split
into camps opposed to and in favour of Thaksin, a former police
official whose populist policies won him a huge following among some
sectors of the rural and urban poor.
Although he came to power through democratic elections, Thaksin's
increasingly autocratic and self-serving rule eventually antagonized
the Thai middle class and the established political elite - the
pro-monarchy aristocracy, the military and the bureaucracy.
A coup toppled Thaksin in September 2006, but he has remained a
central player in Thai politics for the past three years.
Operating out of Dubai after being convicted of abuse of power and
skipping bail, Thaksin was regularly phoning in encouragement to the
UDD during its protests and at one point called for a 'people's
revolution.'
Although Abhisit's government succeeded in quelling the protestors
last week, opposition to his rule was expected to continue.
'When the government ignores the people, they have to find a way
of getting the country reformed,' said Jakrapob Penkair, one of the
UDD leaders who escaped arrest last week and is organizing
anti-government activities from outside the country.
'Protests will go on, but they are not the only means to get what
we want,' Jakrapob said.
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