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Sunday March 26, 2:54 PMAnti-Thaksin protesters paralyse Bangkok's shopping district
Chants of "Thaksin, get out" erupted from crowds rallying around the gleaming Siam Paragon, Bangkok's largest shopping mall where protest leaders vowed another demonstration would take place later in the week. "This is the last polite request for Thaksin to resign," said Thai media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, a former ally of the premier who has emerged as a key anti-Thaksin leader. Nearby protesters passed out flyers saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burns, Thaksin shops while Thailand burns", as curious onlookers crowded onto footbridges. Amid the sea of waving flags and yellow headbands that have come to symbolise the anti-Thaksin movement, shoppers trying to get into the Paragon's padlocked doors were shuttled into the carpark's rear entrance by wary security guards. The protesters, whom police numbered at 4,000, also took aim at Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasak, which recently acquired Shin Corp, the telecoms giant Thaksin founded before entering public office. Thaksin has been battling weeks of demonstrations calling for him to resign since his family pocketed almost two billion dollars in a tax-free sale of its Shin Corp stock to Temasak. "Thaksin is the worst prime minister ever ... he is corrupt and sold the country to Singapore," Sondhi said. "Thaksin is like a high-society person shopping at Siam Paragon. If he has money, go shopping in Singapore," he told the protesters, who moved on to the Central World Plaza, jamming the road in front of the shopping mall before marching on another shopping center, the Emporium. National police spokesman Ajirawid Subarnbhesaj said Sunday 1,300 police were posted along Sukhumvit Road, warning that the rally could snarl traffic along the busy thoroughfare. But the demonstration remained peaceful, interupted only by the blaring car horns of impatient drivers stalled by the throng. Sunday's march came just hours after 100,000 people gathered overnight to urge the widely respected king to appoint a new premier and break a political deadlock before elections next week. Appeals to the king have grown in the last week, as Thailand nears April 2 elections that have been boycotted by the opposition and are already marred by claims of fraud. The king has so far shown no sign that he is willing to step into the crisis. In the past, he has only intervened in politics in times of bloodshed. Advance voting began Saturday for those who cannot make it to the polls next week. Among those who cast ballots were the king's chief adviser Prem Tinsulanonda, in what Thaksin's supporters saw as a sign that the election would go ahead. Thaksin, who was reportedly golfing on Sunday, has rejected demands for a royal-appointed prime minister, saying that would mark a failure of democracy. Thaksin called elections for April 2, three years early, in a bid to end the near-daily demonstrations against him and end a political deadlock that threatens to push the kingdom into a constitutional crisis. Amid worries that next week's election results could deepen the crisis, Thaksin has tried to salvage the polls by turning them into a referendum on his government, saying he would refuse to take office if he wins less than half the vote. |
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