E-Kantipur

BANGKOK , MAR 28 -

In an abrupt reversal that played out on national television, Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed Sunday to talk face-to-face with protesters growing increasingly confrontational in their demands for new elections.

"To find a way to restore peace and minimize the chance of violence, the prime minister has accepted the condition to negotiate with the protesters," according to a brief televised announcement read by Satit Wongnongtaey, minister to the Prime Minister's Office.

It was not immediately clear when the talks would take place.

Anti-government protesters had issued an ultimatum to Abhisit, threatening to march Sunday to an army base serving as his temporary headquarters and scale the walls of the compound unless he agreed to talk to them.

Abhisit has repeatedly rejected demands from the "Red Shirt" protesters that he dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections. He has been sleeping and working from the army base since the protests started March 12.

The announcement came just two hours after Abhisit himself made a nationally televised statement to say he would not bow to ultimatums.

"It will not be possible under this kind of tense circumstance to hold negotiations," Abhisit said, speaking from an undisclosed location against a white backdrop. "I still insist that I am open to negotiation as long as there are no threats, hostility or pressure."

The apparent government confusion came amid growing tension in what so far has been a nonviolent bid to bring down the government.

Four Thai soldiers were wounded early Sunday when two grenades were fired into the army barracks serving as Abhisit's base, Thai media reported.

More than a dozen explosions have hit government targets since the protests began, including attacks on two television stations and the customs department on Saturday that wounded at least eight, according to the Thai news agency, TNN.

The Red Shirts held a full-day rally Saturday that drew more than 60,000 supporters and took a more confrontational stance than previous rallies.

The protesters, known formally as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, forced soldiers to retreat from parts of Bangkok's historic district, where the rallies have been concentrated.

Abhisit has called in thousands of troops to guard Parliament, government buildings and other key locations amid fears of violence. Protesters have denounced the show of military force as unfitting for a democracy.

Riding motorcycles and piled into pickup trucks, red-shirted protesters on Saturday clogged traffic and traveled in a noisy parade to the Bangkok zoo, Buddhist temples and a half dozen other locations being used by soldiers as temporary camps.

Soldiers at several locations packed their duffels and left to avoid clashes, drawing raucous cheers from the protesters. Authorities said the soldiers would regroup at other locations nearby.

At nightfall, protesters demanded the withdrawal of troops at the prime minister's office, known as Government House, where a tense standoff subsided when protesters agreed to leave for the night.

"What has happened is a testament to the power of the people," Weng Tojirakarn, a protest leader said Saturday night. "It is a victory of the people over the military."

The protesters consist largely of supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption, and pro-democracy activists who opposed the army takeover. Critics say the protesters are merely pawns serving Thaksin's ambitions to return to power.

The Red Shirts believe that Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional ruling class and that only new elections can restore integrity to Thai democracy.

Thaksin's allies won elections in December 2007, but the resulting governments were forced out by court rulings. A parliamentary vote brought Abhisit's party to power in December 2008, leading the Red Shirts to complain his rule is undemocratic.

Leaders of the protest movement have increasingly portrayed the demonstrations as a struggle between Thailand's impoverished, mainly rural masses and a Bangkok-based elite impervious to their plight.

The Red Shirts drew international attention earlier this month with a "blood sacrifice" in which they collected blood from supporters and splattered it at the gates of Abhisit's office, the headquarters of his ruling party and his private residence.

Posted on: 2010-03-28 11:48

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