Monday, April 13, 2009

And that sparked off the storming of Pattaya's Royal Cliff Beach Resort, leading to the hurried evacuation of 16 leaders attending the Asean-Plus-Six Summit, which began on Friday.

Among the leaders evacuated was Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who returned Singapore last night.

It was a tit-for-tat reaction to what Red-shirt protest leaders said was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration.

A leader of the pro-Thaksin movement, or Red shirts, told The New Paper on Sunday that they never intended to storm and disrupt the summit.

But protesters became worked up when two supporters were allegedly shot by 'government-backed Blue shirts', said Mr Jaran Ditha Apichai, 62, leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

Mr Jaran told The New Paper on Sunday in an exclusive interview that the Red shirts had no choice but to make their stand at the Summit grounds at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort.

Said Mr Jaran: 'We know and expect the international community to criticise our actions, but it had to be done.

'We had demanded justice and gave the authorities time to react. But they never got back to us.'

According to Mr Jaran, about 3,000 anti-government protesters were making their way to the Summit grounds yesterday morning when they were attacked about 3km from the heart of Pattaya.

Two protesters were shot and taken to hospital, said Mr Jaran in English.

The protest leaders then headed to the resort to demand that 'the (Thai) prime minister or the authorities find the shooters', said Mr Jaran.

'At 11am, we sent them (the authorities) a message of our demand. We gave them an hour. But at noon, nothing happened. People became angry.

'The protest leader then decided to storm the hotel. We didn't destroy any property. We just wanted speak up about the injustice.'

Chaos sooned ensued.

While Mr Jaran claimed the Red shirts had no weapons, news pictures showed protesters wielding catapults and sticks.

Windows were also smashed.

Inside the Summit grounds, Thai security officers with weapons drawn formed a wall to protect Summit leaders and officials.

Said Mr Jaran: 'When we caught up with the blue shirts (at the Summit grounds), they ran and threw all their uniforms.'

A Red shirt protest leader, Mr Arismun Pongruanrong, said the group had confiscated dozens of blue shirts found at temporary military outposts along the road leading to the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall.

He claimed the protesters were upset that they were viciously targeted.

Said Mr Arismun: 'The government sponsored this attack on us... We have the proof to show that the soldiers were disguised in blue shirts and attacked us. We even found some spent bullets.'

Nevertheless, the identity of the Blue shirts may be hard to establish, said DrNaruemon Thabchumpon of Chulalongkorn University in a telephone interview with The New Paper on Sunday.

Said DrNaruemon, a political scientist: 'The Red shirts believe that the Blue shirts are backed by the military or are soldiers in disguise.

'Yet another story says that the Blue shirts are residents of Pattaya and Chonburi who arrived to stop the Red shirts from disrupting the Summit.

'Whatever you believe, the storming of the Summit is an international incident that will not reflect kindly on Thailand.'

In the West, violent protesters would never be able to penetrate the ring of security personnel protecting meetings like the Asean Summit, said DrNaruemon.

Yet, in Thailand, it seems as though the security apparatus 'does not know how to deal with such forms of hooliganism', she said.

Dr Naruemon suggested that the boldness shown by the Red shirts mirrored last year's blockade of Thailand's Suvarnabhumi International Airport in November by anti-Thaksin protesters, or Yellow shirts.

Then, the Yellow shirts, comprising supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), had staged an eight-day sit-in at the airport causing disruptions to flights and severe losses to the aviation and tourism industries.

Said Mr Jaran: 'If the PAD can overthrow a government by severely disrupting air travel, so can we.

'But we're not going to do that. We want to overthrow the present government using peaceful means.

'If we are attacked now, it only shows that the Abhisit government is practising double standards.'

Meanwhile, Thai government spokesman Panithan Watanayagorn said police are investigating the incident.

Mr Panithan told Bernama that it was premature to blame any particular group, adding that the situation was under control, and that the safety of leaders attending the Summit was never in doubt.

The Red shirts had been demonstrating mainly in Bangkok, blocking major roads in the city, before the Asean Summit.

They did so to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit to resign.

Leaders of the UDD had vowed to intensify their protest during the three-day Summit in Pattaya.

But MrAbhisit decided against postponing the summit. Security would be beefed-up to ensure the Summit went ahead, he had said.

The security he promised seemed to have failed, leading to the storming by the Red shirts, and red faces in the Thai government.