Thai police brace for violence at Sunday rally

Leaders of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have called for a demonstration at parliament on Sunday to oust the government, which it blames for a grenade attack on their Bangkok protest site on Thursday that killed one person and wounded 23. “Judging from the tone of their speech, they want to incite violence and we will have to find ways to avoid it,” Major General Anan Srihiran of the Metropolitan Police Bureau told Reuters. The PAD accuse the government of having a hand in Thursday’s grenade attack. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whom the PAD accuse of being a puppet for exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra, has denied any involvement.

Anan said police had not finalised the number of officers to be deployed but they will be equipped with water cannon and tear gas. The army, navy and air force had agreed to send 3,000 “riot troops” to help out on Sunday and Monday, he added.

In October, two people were killed and hundreds wounded, including scores of police, in fighting that erupted as police fired tear gas to remove protesters trying to stop Somchai delivering his maiden speech to parliament.

Major bloodshed would raise the chances of a military coup only two years after the army’s removal of Thaksin, although army chief Anupong Paochinda has said repeatedly a putsch would do nothing to resolve Thailand’s political rifts.

The PAD enjoy the backing of Bangkok’s urban middle classes and elite, including Queen Sirikit, while Thaksin and the government claim their support from the rural voters that returned a pro-Thaksin party in a December election. Upping the pressure on Somchai, public sector unions called for a nationwide strike on Tuesday unless he stands aside, a threat that, if carried out, would deepen the economic impact of a political crisis now in its fourth year.

Government decision-making has ground to a halt, intensifying fears about the export-driven economy’s ability to withstand a global recession. Year-on-year exports rose just 5.2 percent in October compared with 19.4 percent in September, Commerce Ministry data showed on Friday.

“If the government remains on Nov. 25, we will strike,” Sawit Kaewvan, head of an umbrella group representing 200,000 workers at 43 state enterprises, told reporters.

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