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Thai protesters besiege more government ministries

BANGKOK - Thai protesters besieged several more government ministries Tuesday as part of their efforts to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, defying the imposition of a special security law in the capital.

Demonstrators surrounded the interior, agriculture, transport, and sports and tourism ministries, ordering officials inside to leave, a day after occupying the finance and foreign ministries.

" We have to leave because they (the protesters) will cut the utilities," tourism and sports minister Somsak Pureesrisak told AFP.

Demonstrators gave officials at the interior ministry an ultimatum to leave within one hour, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have rallied against Yingluck and her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in the biggest street protests since 2010, when more than 90 civilians were killed in a military crackdown.

Yingluck reiterated a vow that authorities would " absolutely not use violence" as she arrived at parliament early Tuesday.

" Everybody must obey the law and not use mob rule to upstage the rule of law," she told reporters.

Police numbers have been increased in Bangkok in response to the expansion late Monday of the Internal Security Act, which gives authorities additional powers to block routes, impose a curfew, ban gatherings and carry out searches.

MPs began debating a no-confidence motion Tuesday, which was put forward by the opposition Democrat Party last week as part of a barrage of legal and institutional challenges to Yingluck's embattled government.

The ruling Puea Thai party holds a comfortable majority in parliament and is expected to win a censure vote.

The recent protests were sparked by Puea Thai plans to introduce an amnesty that could have allowed the return from self-imposed exile of Thaksin, a deeply polarising figure who was deposed by royalist generals in a 2006 coup.

Outrage over that plan failed to ebb after the amnesty was quashed by the Senate on November 11.

There were no immediate signs that authorities were moving to evict the protesters from government buildings although authorities said the demonstrators appeared to be leaving the foreign ministry.

Huge marches in Bangkok today

BANGKOK - Bangkok faces paralysis today as huge crowds of anti-government protesters set out on symbolic marches across the capital in a move that protest leaders are calling an attempt to overthrow the so-called " Thaksin Shinawatra regime" .

The enormous crowd that packed Democracy Monument and nearby areas yesterday looks set to enable the Democrat Party and its allies, which are leading the joint protests, to come up with various measures today - starting at 8.30am - to put pressure on the Pheu Thai-led coalition government. Their aim is initially to shut down, and eventually end, the so-called Thaksin regime.

The protesters yesterday crowded on to inner Rajdamnoen Avenue, spilling over into adjacent areas and blocking major roads, including Lan Luang Road, the Nang Lerng area and Khok Wua Intersection. Even Sanam Luang and nearby Pin Klao Bridge saw large numbers of protesters.

Two key groups of anti-government protesters are expected to move across the capital today. One group will march to block access to Government House and Parliament, while the other will pressure government agencies, a high-ranking protest source said yesterday.

The Students and People's Network for Thailand's Reform (STR) and the People's Army to Overthrow the Thaksin Regime - known for their hardline stances - will lead protesters to converge at eight key locations in central areas. At the same time, former Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban will lead a second group of marchers to 12 other locations - including the government civil-service complex on Chaeng Watthana Road - to call on officials to engage in acts of civil disobedience.

The Suthep-led march will no doubt cause temporary traffic congestion today. However, the blockade of Government House and Parliament are likely to have longer-lasting effects, as the Democrat-led protesters will attempt to prevent the no-confidence debate, which begins tomorrow, the source said.

Political deadlock is expected to hit the Yingluck government if the Parliament is blockaded such an action would render the announcement of a last-resort House dissolution impossible. The Constitution bars a government from dissolving the House once a no-confidence motion has been accepted, pending a debate.

This possibility yesterday prompted a government operations centre, headed by Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, to urgently seek an alternative venue for tomorrow's censure debate.