Protesters mass to try to force out Thai PM

[struggle4progress]

Sun Mar 5, 2006 6:07 PM GMT

By Nopporn Wong-Anan and Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters vowed on Sunday to stay on Bangkok's streets until Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra resigned over allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

"We will rally around the clock until Thaksin and (his wife) Potjaman leave the country," friend-turned-foe media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul told a crowd police estimated at 60,000. <snip>

Thousands marched from the rally next to the Grand Palace to the nearby Democracy Monument, the focal point of bloody protests in the 1970s and 1990s that brought down military governments.

Thaksin's former political mentor, retired general Chamlong Srimuang, who led the 1992 revolt against a military-led government, said his "Dharma Army" would camp there. <snip>

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-05T180715Z_01_BKK198058_RTRUKOC_0_UK-THAILAND-POLITICS.xml&archived=False


50,000 march against Thaksin
From correspondents in Bangkok
06mar0

TENS of thousands of Thais marched through Bangkok's historic royal avenues late today, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the fourth protest against him in as many weeks. <snip>

Thousands of police armed with shields and batons lined the streets. At various points, they blocked the path of the protesters until they received assurances that the demonstration would remain peaceful.

The march pierced deeper into the symbolic heart of Thailand's government than any previous protests, adding to the pressure on Mr Thaksin, who has already faced a month of street protests and an opposition boycott of snap elections due on April 2.

Standing in front of a banner reading, Give us Thailand back, Mr Sondhi challenged Mr Thaksin to a live debate with his critics, and repeated a litany of allegations of corruption and abuse of power. <snip>

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[ClayZ]

1. and back in the USA we're lookin' for gold in all the wrong places.