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Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday, 27 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
One policeman was killed and three were wounded by gunshots fired from an elevated position during the chaos, which erupted as riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets at rock-throwing protesters seeking to break into the venue of an election ballot numbers draw.
About 40 demonstrators were hospitalised, most from teargas, while several were hit by rubber bullets, the Public Health Ministry said.
Hours after the unrest started, the EC issued a statement recommending the government postpone the vote until all sides supported it, an unlikely scenario given that Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party is almost certain to win.
The EC’s request is a setback for Yingluck as she seeks to renew her mandate in the face of demonstrations by a group calling for a suspension of Thailand’s fragile democracy, which they say has been subverted by her influential, self-exiled brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The clashes are also a big blow to Yingluck, who had ordered police to act with restraint, fearing opponents would stir chaos intentionally to weaken the government and trigger an intervention, either by the military or judiciary.
“The 2 February election may not happen if there’s no mutual consent between all the related parties,” the EC said.
“The election commission would like to ask the Government to consider postponing the election until the mutual consent could be reached,” it said, adding that it could take that decision itself in a 2 January crisis meeting.
The protesters draw strength from the south, Bangkok’s middle class and elite, who call Yingluck a puppet of Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon and populist hero among millions of poor in the north and northeast whose votes have won his parties every election since 2001.
Ekanat Prompan, a spokesman for the protesters, said the group would not change its stance.
