Sunday Times 2
Thai opposition protesters vow no surrender
View(s):BANGKOK, Feb 15 (AFP) -Thai opposition protesters today refused to end their rallies in Bangkok despite a vow by police to clear more demonstration sites, following an operation to reclaim the besieged government headquarters.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government is attempting to seize back key state buildings after more than three months of mass protests seeking to curb the political domination of her billionaire family.
On Friday police with shields and riot helmets, some carrying rifles, met little resistance as they cleared areas around Government House, which Yingluck had been unable to use for about two months.
Anti-government protesters sit behind a barricade near Government Complex in Bangkok February 15. Thai riot police reclaimed a main Bangkok thoroughfare (REUTERS)
But there were no arrests or serious clashes, and demonstrators were later seen rebuilding their makeshift barricades.
The security operation is focused on government offices rather than major intersections in the commercial centre that have become the main focus of the rallies in recent weeks as part of what protesters have described as the “Bangkok shutdown”.
So far the authorities have not announced any plan to clear those intersections, where several thousand protesters gather each evening to hear free concerts and speeches.
“We will continue fighting. We will not be shaken by the police operation,” a spokesman for the anti-government movement, Akanat Promphan, said Saturday.
“No matter whether police succeed in reclaiming the rally sites or not, we will keep on protesting,” he added.
Today about 1,200 police were mobilised to try to reclaim a government complex in Chaeng Wattana in the north of the capital today, National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut told AFP.