PM:Government is ready to hold talks with protesters

BANGKOK, November 27 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that her government is ready to negotiate with anti-government protesters in a bid to end ongoing domestic political strife. Yingluck told journalists on Wednesday morning, before attending a no-confidence debate at the Parliament, that demands by the protesters could be settled through “negotiations” and the government is ready to talk with them. Yingluck insisted that her government is prepared to cooperate with the demonstrators on everything beneficial to the public. According to the prime minister, the government's imposition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) throughout Bangkok and neighbouring provinces since November 25 is aimed to enable security officers to work smoothly, to protect state offices and not to harm the demonstrators. Reiterating that her administration will use peaceful means to deal with the protesters, the prime minister urged the demonstrators not to occupy government offices as the seizure causes societal damages. The prime minister denied the protesters’ charges that her government follows orders given by exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, her elder brother, declaring that the alleged “Thaksinism has never existed” and her government practices only the democratic system. Meanwhile, the largest group of protesters at Bangkok's Rajadamnoen Avenue, headed by leading members of Thailand's main oppostion Democrat Party, marched on three different routes to rally at 14 ministries, namely the Ministries of Labour, Social Development and Human Security, Industry and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Public Health and Commerce, to call for government officials to join their fight against the government, aimed to topple the Yingluck government as they have vowed. Earlier this week, the protesters occupied several ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, in which the Bureau of the Budget is also located, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Public Relations Department, as well as the Ministries of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Tourism and Sports, Transport and Interior. The seizure of the government offices apparently defies the enforcement of the ISA in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. Supporters of the Democrat Party also rallied at several Provincial Halls in the Thai South, the stronghold of the main opposition party, including Trang, Satun and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Jatuporn Prompan, a key leader of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), in the meantime, told red-clad UDD supporters rallying at the Rajamangala National Stadium that he believed demonstrations against the government would end within the next one or two days. (TNA)