Anti-government demonstrators shifted their protest to Bangkok’s financial heart on Friday, boosting pressure on caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to postpone or scrap a general election scheduled for early next year.
Protest leader Suthep Thaungsuban led several thousand flag-waving, whistle-blowing demonstrators away from their main rally site and headed toward Silom Road, the city’s financial centre.
Suthep, leader of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee and a former Deputy Prime Minister, said his supporters “will not allow” the election scheduled for February 2.
He said the election will only strengthen the grip on power wielded from abroad by Yingluck’s elder brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a coup in 2006 and fled the country in 2008 to escape a prison sentence for abuse of power.
Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party retains wide popularity in the country’s north and north-eastern regions and is expected to win the election handily.
However, the Government’s Election Commission had issued a statement on Thursday warning the snap poll could fan the flames of political turmoil.
The sentiment was echoed on Friday by former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Opposition Democrat Party, who said any election held during the current tense political climate could lead to chaos.
The Democrats must decide by Monday whether to take part in the February 2 election.