Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has ordered thousands of riot police to move an anti-government crowd occupying his office compound.
"The Prime Minister said it has to end," Samak's chief spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat told reporters on Wednesday. "Thousands of police will be deployed to move the protesters out of the Government House."
Wichianchot said police will try to persuade the demonstrators to leave the lawn of Government House, normally the nerve center of the Thai administration, but if violence flares up it would be met with "decisive actions".
Earlier yesterday, Interior Minister Kowit Wattana, a former national police chief, suggested the authorities continue to exercise restraint in the wake of the demonstrators' siege and their occupation on Tuesday of several ministries and a state television station.
"I am begging my fellow citizens to leave the Government House and hold a rally somewhere else where the police will have no objection to it," he told a news conference. "I don't want to call this an ultimatum, more an appeal."
A Thai court issued arrest warrants yesterday for nine leaders of an anti-government movement laying siege to the prime minister's office in an attempt to force his Cabinet from power.
The warrants accuse the nine leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) of inciting unrest and trying to overthrow the government, a crime that carries up to 15 years in prison.
It was unclear how police would arrest the nine, surrounded by thousands of flag-waving supporters at Samak's headquarters.
Two thousand police have taken up position in and around the compound, although the only confrontation was in the early hours of yesterday when 15 people were injured in scuffles with the police.
An opinion poll released yesterday shows a marked shift in the public mood against the PAD, whose 2005 protests against then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra led ultimately to his removal in a military coup the following year.
The Bangkok University survey suggested 73 percent of people in the capital disagreed with the three-month campaign by the group, which accuses the current elected coalition of being an illegitimate Thaksin proxy.
The PAD also proclaims itself as a defender of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej against a supposed Thaksin plan to turn Thailand into a republic - a charge vehemently denied by the government, and Thaksin, who is now in exile in London.
After the warrants were issued, PAD heavyweight Chamlong Srimuang, a retired major-general and ascetic Buddhist who led a 1992 uprising against military rule, urged the demonstrators to stand fast.
"More people will join us tomorrow. Don't leave or we will lose. If we hold on, we will win in the next three to four days," he told the crowd at Government House.
Questions：
1 How many arrest warrants did a Thai court issue on Wednesday?
2 In what area of Government House are the demonstrators protesting?
3 According to the survey how many per cent of Thais in Bangkok disagree with the current governments campaign?
Answers:
1. nine.
2. the lawn.
3. 73%.
（英語點津 Helen 編輯）
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. He returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. He returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
