Thai opposition protesters hold march, prepare for shutdown

Thousands of Thai anti-government protesters marched through Bangkok on Sunday to demand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's resignation and garner support for a planned "siege" of the capital to foil snap polls next month.

The 7.5-kilometre march led by Suthep Thaugsuban began from DemocracyMonument, where the anti-government protests have continued for over two months.

The march aimed to garner greater crowd support for the January 13 "Bangkok shutdown". Similar marches have been planned for Tuesday and Thursday, People's Democratic Reform Committee spokesman Akanat Promphan said.

Protesters plan to occupy Bangkok from January 13 and have vowed to prevent government officials from going to work. They have said power and water supply would be cut off to official buildings.

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul, in charge of the government's Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order, asked people not to support the PDRC's idea of occupying 20 major intersections in the capital.

The planned shutdown is part of a bid to force the caretaker Cabinet to resign en masse.

Surapong said such an action would be in violation of the law and rights of other people, and it would bring severe negative impact on the economy. Anusorn Iamsaard, Deputy spokesman for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, feared a Bangkok shutdown could increase the damage to the economy to more than 200 billion baht.

Suthep said new rally stages would be set up at 20 major intersections where mass protests would be held across Bangkok as part of a campaign to "siege" the capital.

Yingluck, who came to power in 2011, called the February 2 snap polls in a bid to end a festering political crisis after protesters escalated their anti-government campaign to remove the Shinawatra clan from power.

Protesters claim that the government is controlled by Yingluck's fugitive brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-exile in Dubai to avoid a prison term for a corruption conviction.

They have demanded that Yingluck should hand over power to an unelected "People's Council" to carry out reforms before the polls. The current rallies began over a now-shelved amnesty plan that could have paved the way for the return of Thaksin.

Thailand's election commission has said the general election was expected to go ahead as planned. The government ministries have been preparing to deal with the "Bangkok shutdown" with the Energy Ministry planning to have executives and staff of agencies overseeing the country's electricity grid move to work at other places.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission on Saturday instructed mobile-phone companies to increase their network capacity from January 10 onwards in the locations where attempts by the PDRC to paralyse the capital were expected.

Image: Anti-government protesters march during a rally in central Bangkok

Athit Perawongmetha (THAILAND - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)