Thai tensions seethe; shares hit by deadly clashes

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai anti-government  protesters marched in Bangkok yesterday, carrying empty coffins  in memory of comrades killed at the weekend, as the country’s  worst political violence in 18 years sent the stock market down  5 percent.

Saturday’s fighting, some of it in well-known Bangkok  tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in  the night. The capital has been calm since then, while  authorities ponder whether to renew a potentially bloody  crackdown on the month-long protests or make some concession to  demands for immediate polls.

The clashes, in which 21 protesters and security personnel  died and more than 800 were injured, prompted concern from  ratings agency about Thailand’s credit risk.

The “red shirt” protesters, mostly rural and working-class  supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a  coup in 2006, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve  parliament and leave the country.

Thousands of them circled the city on trucks, scooters and  “tuk-tuk” taxis, in a defiant mood after the army failed to  eject them from one of two Bangkok bases where they have camped  out — one in an upscale area, where big malls have had to  shut.

“We will continue to rally until Abhisit is no longer prime  minister,” Jatuporn Prompan, a red shirt leader, told  reporters.

“We are hearing they will shorten the conditions for the  dissolution of parliament from nine months to six or three, but  we won’t engage in any negotiations on this,” he said.

The Bangkok Post daily, citing unnamed sources, said  Abhisit could dissolve parliament in six months, three months  sooner than his most recent proposal. He has to call an  election by end-2011.

The red shirts see Abhisit as a front for the establishment  elite and military who came to power not through the ballot box  but through a parliamentary stitch-up in December 2008 when the  courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party.  The military brass is averse to allowing Thaksin’s  supporters back into power, but many in the ranks who come from  the same social strata as the red shirts sympathise with them

Revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in past  crises, has been silent so far.

The 82-year-old head of state  has been in hospital since September.

Political analysts said the impasse could continue even if  new elections were held.