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Thai protesters lay siege to Parliament

— Photo: AP

Clear message: Anti-government protesters march to Parliament in Bangkok on Monday.

SINGAPORE: The escalating political crisis in Thailand entered a new phase on Monday, as protesters forced the postponement of a planned joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate on rewriting the military-imposed Constitution.

There were, however, no clashes between the protesters, who briefly blocked entry to the Parliament complex in Bangkok, and the security forces at the scene. Columns of protesters belonging to the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched to Parliament from their months-long camp site on the Government House premises.

Security forces, on high alert, did not stop the activists, on the understanding that they would refrain from storming the Parliament complex, according to observers and diplomats. However, as the protesters laid siege, the Parliament’s presiding officers postponed the session, without immediately announcing a new date.

The PAD, an umbrella alliance of diverse anti-government groups, has been campaigning for a quick end to the alleged “proxy” influence of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in the 2006 military coup.

Mr. Thaksin, recently convicted and sentenced to jail in a conflict-of-interest case relating to his tenure as Prime Minister, is in exile. And, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat currently heads the second successive coalition to have assumed office since the “democracy-restoring” election about a year ago.

The military-crafted Constitution, under which that election took place, is at the centre of the current political controversies, prompting the government to seek its repeal through the now-postponed parliamentary session.

On a different political track, the beleaguered Cabinet on Monday decided to meet on December 8 to endorse a sheaf of international documents that required urgent parliamentary approval. These documents, including the draft Free Trade Agreement between India and ASEAN, are slated for signature at a series of regional summits that Thailand is to host later in December.

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