Thai premier plans trip Down Under despite mass protests

Mar 5, 2010, 10:20 GMT

Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday he would not cancel a planned trip to Australia and New Zealand next week despite the threat of mass anti-government protests in Bangkok.

The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) movement has threatened to gather up to 1 million protestors in Bangkok on March 14 to force Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call a new election.

Despite the threatened demonstration, Abhisit insisted he would continue with a planned official visit to Australia and New Zealand on March 13-17. 'But I will closely monitor the situation,' he told reporters.

Deputy Prime Minster Suthep Thaugsuban is to be in charge of security in Abhisit's absence.

The UDD has announced plans to mobilize between 500,000 and 1 million people to descend on Bangkok between March 12 and 14 in what would be the largest demonstration in the capital for decades.

'Our aim is small: to force Abhisit to dissolve parliament,' UDD core-leader Jaran Ditthapichai said. 'We will try to force Abhisit to choose between suppression [of the demonstration] and dissolution of parliament,' Jaran said.

The UDD has claimed it would avoid violence in its protest.

'If Abhisit chooses to suppress us, no one knows what will happen,' Jaran said. 'Perhaps a civil war.'

A violent confrontation between government forces and protestors would further the UDD's other main aim which is to bring back fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to power, observers said.

The movement is known to receive financial backing from Thaksin, a former billionaire telecommunications tycoon who was prime minister between 2001 and 2006 before being ousted in a coup.

The UDD's mass protest was planned after the Supreme Court of Political Office Holders ruled on February 26 to seize 1.4 billion of 2.3 billion dollars in frozen bank accounts belonging to Thaksin and his family.

The court ruled for the seizure after finding the former premier guilty of concealing his stake in the family's business empire while in power and of using his position to benefit that empire.

Thaksin has vowed to contest the ruling, but it is unclear what specific action he intends to take.

He has a month to present new evidence to the Supreme Court for an appeal. It has been widely speculated that the fugitive politician, who has been living in self-exile since August 2008 to avoid a two-year prison sentence, could try to create chaos in Thailand to pave the way for a political comeback.

The Thai government has placed some 20,000 joint army-police troops on standby in Bangkok to contain any outbreak of violence, and has set up 170 road checkpoints around the capital to prevent people from bringing weapons into the capital.

The UDD said it plans to use 50,000 pickup trucks to transport its followers to Bangkok next weekend, adding considerably to the already notorious traffic in the metropolis.

'Bangkok traffic will be paralyzed,' Jaran said.