Concern mounts over PM's Chiang Mai visit

Chiang Mai officials and tourism operators yesterday warned against violence erupting during Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's official trip to the northern city next week following a threat on his life.

Chiang Mai Governor Amornpan Nimanant said he failed to get cooperation from some of the 16 red-shirt groups in Chiang Mai in not creating trouble when Abhisit joins the Thai Chamber of Commerce's seminar next Sunday.

He said police were working on the plan by red shirts to attack Abhisit if he stepped into Chiang Mai, home to many supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Lt-General Somkid Bunthanom, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 5, said Special Branch police were conducting intelligence on which red groups planned to obstruct the prime minister's work or assault him.

Police will take strict legal action against community-radio stations that incite violence, he said.

Kanok Suwanasut, president of the Thai Hotel Association's upper northern region, called on anti-government protesters not to resort to violence that would ruin the tourism climate in Chiang Mai.

He was responding to the move by Petchawat Wattanapongsirikul, a leader of the Chiang Mai 51 group, who had allegedly urged protests and force against Abhisit.

Kanok said he hoped the red shirts would not carry out their threats, since the local tourism industry had taken a beating from the recession during the off season and was looking forward to making some money during the high season.

"If we can prevent violence from happening in Chiang Mai this time, it means Chiang Mai still has a future and its image of being a popular tourist destination will be restored," he said.

Kanyapak Maneechan, a leader of Chiang Mai 51, insisted that her group and the red shirts in eight northern provinces were determined not to let Abhisit attend the meeting in Chiang Mai because his government lacked legitimacy.

More than 40,000 red shirts would converge on the Le Meridien hotel and then move to the Night Bazaar as part of the campaign to oust Abhisit. They will also set off fireworks and release lanterns in a ceremony to bring the premier to his demise. Pheu Thai Party deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsab warned Abhisit not to go to Chiang Mai and to cancel his trip, as more than 100,000 people would be there to drive him out.

"How can he be sure that his security guards can provide him with safety when he has many opponents there?" he said.

Meanwhile, Karun Hosakul, a Pheu Thai MP for Bangkok, said the party would file a complaint with the Department of Special Investigation if the National Anti-Corruption Commission refused to investigate graft allegations in the Sufficiency Community project on grounds that no politicians or officials were involved.

He insisted that the party had evidence linking key politicians to the scandal.