The mostly peaceful campaign to shut down Bangkok entered its third day Wednesday with a mass march down a central thoroughfare amid reports of rising violence, police said.
Overnight attacks on an opposition leader and protesters did not stop Suthep Thaugsuban, who heads the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), from launching a mass march down Sukhumvit Road.
Thousands lined the road as Suthep greeted supporters and accepted cash donations to the strains of the protest movement’s anthem.
Suthep launched the Bangkok shutdown campaign on Monday after two months of protests in the capital failed to force the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her cabinet, despite her decision to dissolve parliament last month and set a snap election for February 2.
“We don’t want an election that will involve cheating and vote buying and is not free and fair,” Suthep said.
The PDRC protests have been mostly peaceful to date, partly because the government has been reluctant to crack down for fear of prompting the military to stage a coup, security sources said.
But there are signs of a rising risk of violence with no indication that the parties are any closer to finding a resolution.
A bomb was thrown into the home compound of Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party, shortly before midnight Tuesday causing damage but no injuries, police said.
“We have arrested some suspects and are interrogating them,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kissana Phatanacharoen, a spokesman for the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), the government’s crisis-response body.
Kissana added that four special branch officers were attacked and injured by protesters near Lumpini Park, a protest site, early Wednesday.
Another explosion was reported near the Pathumwan rally site in central Bangkok, injuring two people, Thai radio reports said.
The Bangkok shutdown campaign aims to paralyse the capital by occupying seven major intersections, and marching on ministries and offices in a bid to prevent civil servants from working.
Radical elements within the movement threatened to block the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on Wednesday as well as the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AeroThai), which controls civil aviation traffic, if caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her cabinet do not resign.
Suthep on Tuesday denied the protest would target SET and AeroThai.