CHAN:
Protests in the Thai capital continue today. Hundreds more protesters from the country’s coastal provinces arrived at the Government House compound… to join the thousands who have stormed the prime minister’s office. They’re calling on the current administration to resign. Let’s take a look.
STORY:
The crowd dwindled to 3,000 by Thursday morning from tens of thousands when the siege began on Tuesday. The People’s Alliance for Democracy or PAD, has been appealing to protesters not to leave as riot police arrived to disperse the demonstrators.
Dozens of police trucks were parked on nearby streets… and police doctors and ambulances were on stand-by at the police headquarters.
The Thai prime minister ordered riot police to break up the demonstration by Wednesday, but police weren’t able to get protest leaders off the streets in time.
The nine protest leaders are charged with inciting unrest and trying to overthrow the seven-month-old government. They face up to 15 years behind bars.
The PAD leader says protesters will not leave the Government House until the government resigns and a new constitution is drafted.
[Chamlong Srimuang, PAD Leader]:
“They know that they cannot apprehend all of us. So they aim for the leaders. But we are preparing three replacement leaders.”
The constitution was drawn up under an army-controlled administration after the military overthrew former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 coup.
The PAD accuses the government elected in December of being an illegitimate arm of Thaksin, who’s now in exile in London.
