Thai prime minister meets protesters

THAI PRIME minister Abhisit Vejjajiva failed to reach agreement with anti-government protest leaders on resolving the southeast Asian country’s lengthy political crisis yesterday, and said they planned to meet again today.

The talks between Mr Abhisit and leaders of recent protests by tens of thousands of supporters of deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra were televised for three hours.

Protest leader Veera Musikapong and two colleagues, Jatuporn Prompan and Weng Tojirakarn, wearing the trademark red shirts of the opposition, shook hands with Mr Abhisit before the meetings. On the way in, they called for parliament to be dissolved and for fresh elections.

Mr Abhisit renewed his message of seeking to avoid violence and to bring about a broader consensus to help secure the country’s political future, a message that the red shirts see as anti-democratic.

“I have to make a decision based on a consensus from the entire country, including the red shirts,” Mr Abhisit said. “We have to think: Will dissolution really solve the problem?”

Mr Thaksin’s supporters won elections in December 2007, but two resulting governments were forced out by court rulings. A parliamentary vote brought Mr Abhisit’s party to power in December 2008.

The red shirts feel disenfranchised by the way that Mr Abhisit used parliament rather than direct election to come to power, after months of political uncertainty in the wake of Mr Thaksin’s removal in a military coup, and his flight from Thailand after he was convicted on corruption charges.

Mr Thaksin remains a popular figure in Thailand, and parties backing him would probably win any fresh elections.

While Mr Abhisit wants to be seen to do something to resolve the political crisis that has dogged one of southeast Asia’s most vibrant economies since 2006, it is hard to see what compromise is possible short of fresh elections.

The opposition demonstrated in the Thai capital for weeks, pouring their blood on key government buildings and forcing Mr Abhisit to stay at an army base for his own protection as up to 100,000 people gathered on the streets. The opposition said they would scale the walls of the base unless he agreed to meet with them.

Four Thai soldiers were wounded yesterday when two grenades were fired into the army barracks serving as Mr Abhisit’s base, Thai media reported.

The demonstrations have been highly polarising, with Mr Abhisit increasingly seen as a representative of the Bangkok-based elite and the army, while the red shirts represent the rural poor.