PAD besiege Parliament to prevent govt's policy address

Parliament is scheduled to convene from Tuesday to Thursday to hear the government's policy statement and debate it.

As of 10pm on Monday, protesters blocked all roads leading to the Parliament. They conducted sit-in protest in front of the Parliaement and stayed overnight there.

Their leaders told them through megaphones to sit in front of the Parliament, not to try to enter the Parliament compound.

Dozens of full-gear police were deployed to protect the inside compound of the Parliament. They chained all gates and entrances.

Sirichai Mai-ngam, one of the PAD's "second-generation leaders", said before the protesters marched to the Parliament that the Somchai administration had lost its legitimacy in "using Parliament as a rubber stamp for its policy statement."

He added that the PAD protesters would gather peacefully outside of the compound.

Sawit Kaewwan, another leader in the second generation, said only part of the PAD supporters gathering at Government House and the adjacent areas would move to Parliament.

That was to avoid authorities "seizing back Government House", he added.

He said the protesters at Parliament would be led by the second-generation leaders while the original PAD leaders would remain at Government House.

The Criminal Court yesterday ruled in favour of the police and dismissed a defence petition that claimed the arrest of PAD leader Chaiwat Sinsuwong was unlawful.

Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, meanwhile, remained hopeful the ongoing negotiation efforts between the government and the PAD would not be interrupted by the arrests of two PAD leaders.

After police nabbed Chaiwat on Friday, the court ruled on the next day to remand him into its custody for 12 days pending the completion of police report on serious offences, including treason.

The defence did not apply for bail but argued for unconditional release of Chaiwat on grounds that police had wrongfully arrested him without a warrant.

The defence contends that warrants issued two months ago to arrest nine PAD leaders, including Chaiwat, are not in effect since the Court of Appeals has accepted to launch the appellate review on the legality of charges filed by police.

After reviewing the defence arguments, the court ruled that the warrant to arrest Chaiwat remains in effect in spite of it being a subject of the appellate review.

"Unless the Court of Appeals rules otherwise, the warrant remains legally binding and the defence claim about wrongful arrest is groundless," the court said in its verdict.

Following the court session, wardens escorted Chaiwat back to his remand prison. He waved to a cheering crowd of about 30 PAD-led supporters who showed up to lend moral support to Chaiwat and Chamlong who was being remanded following his arrest on Sunday.

During his remand hearing, Chamlong's defence presented a similar argument to that of Chaiwat for wrongful arrest.

The court is scheduled to rule today on the Chamlong case.

Addressing concerns over the future of government-PAD negotiations for reconciliation, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the talks did not collapse as feared.

"The two camps are so close to reach an understanding, hence there is no reason to end the talks," he said, claiming to remain in contact with other PAD leaders such as Sondhi Limthongkul, Somkiart Pongpaiboon and Somsak Kosaisuk.

He said he understood that Chamlong did not plot his arrest to sway anti-government sentiment as speculated.

He said last week he offered to meet in person at Government House but Chamlong told him to send an aide for an informal talks because he was obligated to arrest him if a face-to-face meeting were to take place.

The arrest of Chamlong was an unfortunate event because police had to do their job by serving the warrant while the PAD leader wanted to be a responsible citizen and cast vote, the deputy prime minister said.

There was no conspiracy or an ulterior motive behind the arrest, he said.

He said the PAD was often misunderstood as a troublemaker when it has in fact pure intentions to strive for justice and the political system that truly serves the people's aspirations.

He urged PAD leaders to work within the mainstream politics in order to improve the political system rather than aim at the destruction of one capitalist, Thaksin Shinawatra, and the government which they see as proxy.

Parties concerned should work together to bring about political improvements because history in the past 76 years has shown that nothing could be achieved by trying to fault or destroy one another, he said.

He reminded PAD leaders that the fall of the Somchai Wongsawat government would not help to advance the people's aspirations.

"Somchai will be succeeded by the likes of him, then we will end up having Somsak, Sodsri and all as leaders but no real change," he said.

Defence permanent secretary General Apichart Penkitti said the military would remain on the sidelines and allow politics to set itself back on course.