AFP with Xinhua
BANGKOK: The Secretary General of Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN said Friday that he had traveled to Thailand to assess whether the kingdom is still capable to host a summit as protests shutter the main airports.
Speaking via phone to Agence France- Presse Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said that he made his way overland to Bangkok to determine whether the country is still able to accommodate the Asean Summit amid the worsening protests in Thailand.
Pitsuwan, who is also a former Thai foreign minister said the final decision lay with the Thai government.
“Part of my trip here is to discuss the Asean summit with the Thai government. I have to listen to the Thai government first,” he said.
“The Thai government should make a decision on its readiness and the internal situation.”
Surin has been in Singapore, and said he was traveling overland from Penang, Malaysia, which is near the Thai border.
Current Asean chairman Thailand has insisted it will go ahead with the December summit in the northern city of Chiang Mai, even as anti-government protesters stepped up a six-month campaign to topple the prime minister.
They swarmed the main Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday and shut it down, and on Thursday, the smaller Don Mueang was also forced to shut its doors when protesters surrounded it, cutting almost all air travel in and out of Bangkok.
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have raised the possibility of postponing the Asean summit due to the worsening political crisis in the country.
Protesters to fight to the death
Protesters occupying Bangkok’s main airports vowed Friday to “fight to the death,” as police said they would negotiate with the demonstrators before trying to evict them under emergency laws.
Embattled Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat had imposed a state of emergency around the airports on Thursday night but security forces feared a raid could spark a bloody confrontation with the anti-government activists.
Airlines began flying stranded air travelers out from a naval base Friday, but tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have missed flights after four days of unrest that have badly hit Thailand’s tourist industry.
“We are not afraid. We will fight to the death, we will not surrender and we are ready,” one of the main protest leaders, Somsak Kosaisuk, told a crowd of supporters at the domestic Don Mueang airport.
Anti-government activists braced for an assault overnight, extending razor wire cordons to about three kilometers around the flagship Suvarnabhumi international airport and blocking access roads, witnesses said.
Police say around 4,000 protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) —a movement backed by elements of the palace, the army and Thailand’s Bangkok-based elite—are occupying Suvarnabhumi for a fourth day.
Another 2,500 are at Don Mueang, where the cabinet’s temporary offices have been located since protesters seized their headquarters at Government House in Bangkok in August, calling for the government to resign.
Somchai’s attempts to assert his authority by declaring emergency rule and authorizing action to clear the airports were apparently undermined by the police announcement of further talks with the protesters.
“We will use the gentle way first. The priority is to negotiate and not crack down immediately—we are all Thais,” regional deputy police commander Major General Piya Sorntrakoon told Agence France Presse.
Speaking via phone to Agence France- Presse Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said that he made his way overland to Bangkok to determine whether the country is still able to accommodate the Asean Summit amid the worsening protests in Thailand.
Pitsuwan, who is also a former Thai foreign minister said the final decision lay with the Thai government.
“Part of my trip here is to discuss the Asean summit with the Thai government. I have to listen to the Thai government first,” he said.
“The Thai government should make a decision on its readiness and the internal situation.”
Surin has been in Singapore, and said he was traveling overland from Penang, Malaysia, which is near the Thai border.
Current Asean chairman Thailand has insisted it will go ahead with the December summit in the northern city of Chiang Mai, even as anti-government protesters stepped up a six-month campaign to topple the prime minister.
They swarmed the main Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday and shut it down, and on Thursday, the smaller Don Mueang was also forced to shut its doors when protesters surrounded it, cutting almost all air travel in and out of Bangkok.
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have raised the possibility of postponing the Asean summit due to the worsening political crisis in the country.
Protesters to fight to the death
Protesters occupying Bangkok’s main airports vowed Friday to “fight to the death,” as police said they would negotiate with the demonstrators before trying to evict them under emergency laws.
Embattled Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat had imposed a state of emergency around the airports on Thursday night but security forces feared a raid could spark a bloody confrontation with the anti-government activists.
Airlines began flying stranded air travelers out from a naval base Friday, but tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have missed flights after four days of unrest that have badly hit Thailand’s tourist industry.
“We are not afraid. We will fight to the death, we will not surrender and we are ready,” one of the main protest leaders, Somsak Kosaisuk, told a crowd of supporters at the domestic Don Mueang airport.
Anti-government activists braced for an assault overnight, extending razor wire cordons to about three kilometers around the flagship Suvarnabhumi international airport and blocking access roads, witnesses said.
Police say around 4,000 protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) —a movement backed by elements of the palace, the army and Thailand’s Bangkok-based elite—are occupying Suvarnabhumi for a fourth day.
Another 2,500 are at Don Mueang, where the cabinet’s temporary offices have been located since protesters seized their headquarters at Government House in Bangkok in August, calling for the government to resign.
Somchai’s attempts to assert his authority by declaring emergency rule and authorizing action to clear the airports were apparently undermined by the police announcement of further talks with the protesters.
“We will use the gentle way first. The priority is to negotiate and not crack down immediately—we are all Thais,” regional deputy police commander Major General Piya Sorntrakoon told Agence France Presse.
1 comment:
(Protesters to fight to the death)
Krup, touk tong! we are PAD will never give up, we will blow up ourself into pieces and never ever give up until more on both sides get kill. The Thai govt. will be force to step down soon after more death bodies laying on the street. Mr. Anupong Porng Kdor will send army to start shooting the Thai polices because the police men are belong to the PM.
Siam will kill Thai.
Khmer,Burma and Lao will be laughing, but Vietnam will force Hun Xen to be more cooporation and under the Viet control.
Hun Sen can not say no to the boss if so another Pol Pot war with Vietnam, then at the end you all will know what will be?
But do not say too loud, do not let the Thai and Siam know this or else they will stop fighting each other.
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