Thai anti-government protesters in Bangkok surrendered today, giving the harried prime minister some breathing space to try to fix the worsening economy.
Thai police have issued arrest warrants for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other protest leaders for inciting an uprising and causing public disturbance in the capital of Bangkok.
Thirteen warrants were issued, a national deputy police chief, told reporters in Bangkok today. A state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces will remain until security forces can ensure complete stability, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said tonight.
"We have to stop [the protests] because we need to look after the lives of our supporters," said Jatuporn Prompan, one of the leaders of the red-shirted protesters loyal to former premier Mr Shinawatra who still commands widespread loyalty among the rural poor.
The government extended the New Year's holiday for the rest of the week for "public safety" in case the red shirts regroup in Thaksin strongholds and come back to the capital, government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.
Thailand's intractable political divide broadly pits royalists, the military and the urban middle-class against the rural poor loyal to Mr Thaksin.
The tourist sector was barely picking up after a one-week shutdown of Bangkok's airports by protesters opposed to Thaksin late last year when a government allied to him was in power.
Mr Abhisit was made to look foolish after the "red shirts" forced the cancellation of an Asian summit in the resort of Pattaya on Saturday, an event he had trumpeted as proof Thailand was returning to normal.
Protesters had besieged his office at Government House since March 26th, demanding he resign and new elections be held.
But Mr Abhisit restored some of his lost credibility after the military quelled violent protests yesterday between red shirts and troops at a major junction in the capital.
Two people died, both of them in skirmishes between residents and someone riding on a motorbike, while 123 people were injured in the clashes between soldiers and protesters, mostly from tear gas, authorities said.
Mr Abhisit said today the emergency in greater Bangkok that he imposed on Sunday would remain for the time being to restore order in parts of the capital where protests were still taking place "but without their red shirts on".
Thousands of red shirt protesters were put on buses back to their home provinces after their leaders surrendered to the military at Government House.
Reuters