PM asks for talks with protesters

BANGKOK, November 28 (TNA) - Reiterating that her government has no pre-conditions, Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has, again, urged leaders of anti-government protesting groups to hold talks with her administration to end ongoing domestic political strife. Yingluck suggested on Thursday that demonstrations do not help improve the situation and the best solution is to hold talks. Describing the seizure of government offices, particularly by protesters led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former MP and deputy prime minister under the main opposition Democrat Party, Yingluck told reporters that it is just a “symbolic” by the demonstrators. Suthep has led his supporters to occupy the government complex on Chaeng Wattana Road in Bangkok; while other groups of anti-government protesters have rallied outside the Ministries of Energy, Finance, the Bureau of the Budget and other ministries. Several provincial halls in upcountry, mostly in the Thai South, the stronghold of the Democrat Party, are also occupied by the anti-government protesters. Yingluck stressed that her government has a reform platform for talks without any condition and her administration is ready for negotiations. The prime minister insisted that a House dissolution is not the solution because the protesters have gone beyond their first-announced anti-amnesty bill. Suthep has now vowed to continue leading his supporters to rally against the government of Premier Yingluck, who is the youngest sister of exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, until, what he has claimed, the "Thaksin regime" is uprooted. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnog, who oversees national security, affirmed that all government offices occupied by anti-government protesters have been opened for normal operations to serve the public, as it is only a “symbolic” protest by the demonstrators. (TNA)