By MICHAEL CASEY
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government has revoked the personal passport of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra following several days of demonstrations that paralyzed Bangkok, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the passport was revoked on Sunday when a national state of emergency was declared in the face of protests led by Thaksin supporters who wish to unseat the current prime minister.
On Tuesday, a Thai court issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and 13 other protest leaders.
"If we believe the person who holds the passport is doing anything that could undermine the security of the nation, then we have the right to revoke the passport," he said.
The government had already revoked the former leader's diplomatic passport.
Thaksin is in self-imposed exile following a 2006 coup against his government and a subsequent corruption conviction. But he stoked a crowd of anti-government protesters in Bangkok, the capital, by speaking to them by video almost nightly during the recent unrest. At one stage, he called for a revolution.
Over the past week, up to 100,000 anti-government protesters paralyzed the capital, clashing with troops, police and residents in street battles that left two dead and 123 injured. On Sunday, the demonstrators forced the cancellation of a regional summit in the nearby seaside town of Pattaya after they stormed the venue.
Faced with a major military showdown, protest leaders gave up their fight Tuesday and urged their followers to go home.
Police have mounted a search for the protest leaders, only three of whom are in custody, checking airports in case some tried to flee the country, local television stations said. The three in custody and are expected in court Thursday, their lawyers said.
The state of emergency continued Wednesday with soldiers continuing to patrol key intersections in the subdued streets of the capital a day after the violent demonstrations came to an abrupt end.
Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the passport was revoked on Sunday when a national state of emergency was declared in the face of protests led by Thaksin supporters who wish to unseat the current prime minister.
On Tuesday, a Thai court issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and 13 other protest leaders.
"If we believe the person who holds the passport is doing anything that could undermine the security of the nation, then we have the right to revoke the passport," he said.
The government had already revoked the former leader's diplomatic passport.
Thaksin is in self-imposed exile following a 2006 coup against his government and a subsequent corruption conviction. But he stoked a crowd of anti-government protesters in Bangkok, the capital, by speaking to them by video almost nightly during the recent unrest. At one stage, he called for a revolution.
Over the past week, up to 100,000 anti-government protesters paralyzed the capital, clashing with troops, police and residents in street battles that left two dead and 123 injured. On Sunday, the demonstrators forced the cancellation of a regional summit in the nearby seaside town of Pattaya after they stormed the venue.
Faced with a major military showdown, protest leaders gave up their fight Tuesday and urged their followers to go home.
Police have mounted a search for the protest leaders, only three of whom are in custody, checking airports in case some tried to flee the country, local television stations said. The three in custody and are expected in court Thursday, their lawyers said.
The state of emergency continued Wednesday with soldiers continuing to patrol key intersections in the subdued streets of the capital a day after the violent demonstrations came to an abrupt end.
9 comments:
Thailand is learning tactics from Hun Sen quickly.
You're right. If Thailand wants to learn to be a dictatorship state, Hun Sen is the best and cheapest in the neigborhood.
Some day in the future, Hun Sen will open a Dictator Univercity in Cambodia, I think.
So that all Asian Countries learn from that University to their Countries.
kkkk
Some time we need the dictatorship and could be good for the society for the country and for the democracy.
Thailand has done a lot of unforgettable urgly things to the Khmer in the past and present time. I hope this country will not punished by her past karma.
Thailand has has a long history if using military as a tool to solve a stalked political problem (sometimes ended up cost many casualties) since Hun Sen was living with breastmilk.
18 Coup E'tate so far.
Thaksin has Nicaraguan passport
By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 16/04/2009 at 10:45 AM
The Nicaraguan government anounced it has made fugutive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra a "special ambassador" and issued him a diplomatic passport.
The announcement was made after the Thai government said on Wednesday it had revoked his ordinary passport because he incited the Saturday rioting which forced the cancellation of the weekend Asean Summit in Pattaya.
Nicaragua said in a statement on Wednesday that Thaksin had been appointed an "ambassador on a special mission" so he could help attract investment to the poor Central American country, reports said.
The passport was issued in January when Thaksin visited the country, and was given to him in February, when he met Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
President Ortega had "asked the foreign ministry to accredit him (Thaksin) as an ambassador of Nicaragua on a special mission, in order to facilitate his efforts to bring investments to our country'', the government statement said.
Thaksin's Thai passport was recalled on Sunday, a day after his red-shirt followers stormed the summit venue at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort hotel.
The government later declared a six-hour state of emergency in Pattaya to allow the evacuation of the Asean leaders and delegates and their dialogue partners from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
Thai people should continue fighting for thier democracy...
To win this goal, they must go to Maki, like Cambodian had used.
Thaksin will get some tips from Ortega on how to gain back the power. And he will success eventually .
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