Thai protesters invade army HQ and tell soldiers: We want your support

 
Anti-government protestors shout slogans and wave flags during a protest march in Bangkok on November 29, 2013. Defiant Thai opposition protesters stormed the army headquarters and besieged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's party offices on November 29, intensifying their fight to bring down her government. AFP PHOTO/Indranil MUKHERJEEINDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images
Andrew Drummond29 November 2013

Anti-government activists marched on Thailand’s army headquarters in central Bangkok today.

Their move came as the protest movement kept up its demands that prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her government resign.

The demonstrators also marched on the ruling Pheu Thai party’s HQ and the US embassy. The nearby British embassy was shut for the weekend.

Some protesters forced their way into the army HQ’s front compound. But activist Thippawan Boonsong said amid a surprisingly calm mood: “We mean the army no harm. We want their support. We don’t want any shooting.”

The protesters, numbering more than 1,000, were offered water and asked to leave when they felt rested.

Ms Yingluck has invoked the internal security act, with barricades and barbed wire on the capital’s streets after six days of continuous protests.

But she told the BBC there would be no early election to tackle the political crisis as the country was not calm enough. She also pledged that she will not authorise the use of force against protesters occupying ministries. Ironically, the activists seek the overthrow of what passes for democracy in Thailand. Their leader Suthep Thaugsuban has called for the dissolution of parliament and for the nation to be run by a committee of well-known and highly-regarded people — who may not be politicians.

Protester Sutin Nakruat said: “It’s a lie to say we have democracy if the government behaves like a dictatorship. It has been plundering the country.”

Ms Yingluck called for an end to protests after surviving a no-confidence vote yesterday. But Suthep Thaugsuban rejected her appeal. “We will not let them work any more,” the former senior opposition politician said.

The spark for the protests was an amnesty bill to let former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, Ms Yingluck’s elder brother, return to Thailand from Dubai after he was convicted of corruption.

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