Mass rally to oppose gas price rises

BANGKOK, January 9 (TNA) - Transport operators brought about 300 trucks, buses and taxis onto inner Bangkok streets on Monday morning to demand the government cancel its plan to raise retail prices of natural gas for vehicles (NGV) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The protesters threatened to go on strike and move their vehicles around Bangkok unless the government heeded their demand. The protesters parked their mobile stage in front of Government House and taxis were parked at the Royal Plaza and blocked outbound lanes from Suan Misakawan Intersection to Panit Phranakorn Intersection. Taxi drivers left their vehicles there and walked to the protest site in front of the Government House. They have demanded that the government freeze the gas prices for at least one year and increase gas supply and quality to meet market demand. They also want to have their say in a future plan to raise the retail NGV and LPG prices, insisting that the government policy to increase the NGV price by six baht per kilogram this year will trouble them. Leaders of the protesters were also pressuring Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to dismiss Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan unless the energy minister met their demand, threatening that 90 per cent of taxi drivers would go on strike. (TNA)