Anti-government protesters march on Bangkok streets

BANGKOK, November 25 (TNA) - Anti-government protesters began marching on 13 Bangkok streets on Monday morning in an attempt, as they vowed, to uproot the ‘Thaksin regime’, causing heavy traffic jams in the capital. The anti-government protesters, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former member of parliament (MP) and a leading member of Thailand's main opposition Democrat Party, divided into separate groups and marched from the Democracy Monument on Rajadamnoen Avenue to the 13 targeted locations they have announced earlier, including Modernine TV, under MCOT Public Company Limited (MCOT), and four other television stations, six military and police headquarters, as well as the Interior Ministry and the Bureau of the Budget. Suthep, who is also a former Democrat deputy prime minister, said the protesters would ask the chiefs of all the 13 targeted agencies whether they stay with the public or with the government of Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinwatra, the youngest sister of exiled ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, both were charged with corruption. A large number of protesters were, however, guarding their main demonstration site at the Democracy Monument, located not far from the Government House and the Parliament. A large number of supporters of the red-clad United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), aligned with Thaksin and the Yingluck government, have, in the meantime, gathered at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok's Hua Mak area to show their support to the Yingluck administration. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Police General Pracha Promnog, who oversees national security, insisted that the government would not use force against the demonstrators, but urging the protesters to respect the Internal Security Act (ISA) having enforced in Bangkok’s three districts, namely Phra Nakhon, Dusit and Promprab Satrupai, located in the vicinity of the Government House, the Parliament and some military offices. The deputy premier stressed that he is ready to hold talks with the protesters' leader to explore ways to end the nearly one-month-old street protest in the capital. (TNA)