Red shirt protesters seek delaying of Asean Summit

Sukhum Wongprasit, leader of the Democracy Lovers of Sanam Luang, and four others who said they were red shirts members, were accompanied to meet Suthep at Government House by national police chief General Patcharawat Wongsuwan and Metropolitan Police commissioner Lt-General Suchat Muenkaew.

Sukhum thanked Suthep for allowing his group's representatives to meet him. He read out the open letter, which said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had not responded to their demands for House dissolution and postponement of the Asean summit made on January 8.

The letter stated the way Abhisit gained his premiership was illegitimate and his appointment of Kasit Piromya as foreign minister was inappropriate as Kasit was part of the group who illegally took over Bangkok's airports late last year.

The activist said the group would give the government another 30 days to meet its demands, or they would return to ask for a reply from the PM again.

He said his group would join hands with red shirts from all regions of the country to hold a peaceful protest outside Government House until they had achieved victory.

Suthep responded that to become prime minister, Abhisit had won a House vote in a free and fair manner, and that Kasit was appointed because of his strong diplomatic background. He added that the government would take appropriate action with Kasit if he made any mistakes. As for the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he added, the government must go ahead for the benefit of Thailand and other member states.

The government would make appropriate decisions regarding the proposal for a House dissolution, Suthep told the representatives from the red shirts.

Patcharawat, the police commissioner-general, said yesterday that police are well-prepared to deal with the red shirts' rally scheduled for Jan 31 at Sanam Luang. He said he did not think there would be any serious incident. "The red shirts have organised many rallies already and there have been no problems," he added.

Metropolitan Police deputy chief Maj-General Amnuay Nimmano warned protesters yesterday their rally should proceed peacefully with no weapons, or it would be against the law.

"Even though your protest is peaceful, it's against the law to have weapons while taking part," he said.

Khon Kaen MP Panya Sripanya, part of the Friends of Newin faction, said yesterday he believed the January 31 rally by the red shirts would be simply "a show of force".

However, he doubted there would be as many participants as in previous red shirt rallies. The MP, now with the Bhum Jai Thai Party, said he believed many prospective participants from the Northeast would not take part this time.

He said too he did not expect residents of Khon Kaen, his constituency, to join the January 31 rally at Sanam Luang.

Panya said MPs from his faction had explained to their constituents in the Northeast that the government would continue with the populist policies and that benefits for them would remain unchanged.