Thai protestors and government talk on talks

Mar 22, 2010, 9:05 GMT

Bangkok - Representatives of the government and a Thai protest movement that seized the streets of Bangkok over the weekend met Monday to set conditions for talks.

Two representatives of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) met with Thailand's Human Rights Commission to present their demands.

The anti-government protest group, also known as the red shirts for their preferred colour in T-shirt apparel, mobilized a 17,000-vehicle 'red caravan' through Bangkok Saturday to highlight their demands that Prime Minster Abhisit Vejjajiva resign, dissolve parliament and call new elections.

Abhisit - responding to the protest, which met with broad support from Bangkokians - said over the weekend that he was open to negotiations on dissolving parliament.

'Abhisit has not closed the door to negotations,' said Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat, who has been appointed by Abhisit to act as an intermediary with the UDD.

The UDD has asked the government as conditions to negotiations to lift the Internal Security Act in the capital and withdraw troops guarding their protest headquarters at Rajdamnoen Avenue in the old part of Bangkok, UDD spokesman Sean Boonpracong said.

The security act has been in force in Bangkok and eight surrounding provinces since March 11. The government planned to lift it Wednesday, but in light of the ongoing protests in the capital, the cabinet was likely to extend it until the end of the month, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaungsuban said.

The government has put about 40,000 soldiers and police on standby to keep the peace in the capital during the demonstration period, which began March 12. UDD leaders originally predicted that the protest would last a week, but they now seemed determined to go on for at least another weekend.

'We will stage an even bigger event in Bangkok on the coming Saturday when we will really paint the town red,' UDD co-leader Jaran Dithapichai said.

Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier who was ousted by a coup in September 2006 and is now one of the UDD's key ringleaders, urged the red shirts to step up their protests in both Bangkok and the provinces in a phoned-in message Sunday night.

Thaksin, in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year prison sentence on an abuse-of-power conviction, has made nightly phoned-in addresses to his supporters urging them to continue their protests.

Last week, the UDD said 1 million protestors would descend on the capital from the provinces by March 14. About 100,000 materialized, and their numbers dwindled over the week as Bangkok's scorching heat and lack of a quick victory took their toll.

Failing to force Abhisit's resignation, the UDD resorted to media-friendly tactics of pouring blood drawn from its supporters on the steps of Government House, at the headquarters of the ruling Democrat Party and at Abhisit's home.

So far, the UDD protest has been peaceful, but observers said they fear it could turn violent if it drags on too long and fails to achieve its aims.