BANGKOK: Defiant Thai opposition protesters stormed the army headquarters and besieged PM Yingluck Shinawatra’s party offices yesterday, intensifying their fight to bring down her government.
Demonstrators have targeted key government buildings in Bangkok in the biggest street protests since mass rallies in 2010 degenerated into the kingdom’s worst civil strife in decades.
The protesters are united by their loathing of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The controversial former telecoms tycoon was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile, but he is widely believed to be the real power behind the embattled government of his younger sister Yingluck.
Protesters are demanding the end of the “Thaksin regime” and want to replace the government with an unelected “people’s council.” “The basic desire of the protesters and the protest leaders is to create chaos and destruction, presumably hoping that the military will have to intervene and take power from the government,” said Thailand expert Andrew Walker.
In the latest provocative move targeting a symbol of state power, demonstrators forced open the gates of the compound of the army headquarters in Bangkok and occupied the lawn inside for several hours, calling on the military to support their fight to bring down the government. afp
