Red Shirts stay put

Red shirt protesters cheer after singing the national anthem. Photo / Getty Images

BANGKOK: Anti-Government protesters, showing little sign of weariness after seven weeks of protests, said yesterday that supporters from around the country were sending reinforcements to fortify their encampment in the Thai capital.

With negotiations between the protesters, known as Red Shirts, and the Government on hold and hopes for a peaceful end to the standoff dwindling, calls grew for international mediators to be brought in.

The protesters have barricaded roads and paralysed much of the city's commercial centre for weeks in a campaign to force the Government to disband Parliament and call elections. At least 27 people have been killed and nearly 1000 injured in the ensuing violence.

Some officials have expressed hopes the protesters will grow weary and go home, but Weng Tojirakarn, a Red Shirt leader, said they planned to beef up their presence in the capital.

"Red Shirts, people from the provinces, are coming in to Bangkok," he said. "And this time they will stay a long time."

The Red Shirts, drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, saying that he came to power through the connivance of Bangkok's elite bureaucrats and the military.

As the crisis dragged on, the International Crisis Group think tank appealed for foreign mediation, possibly led by East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta.

"It is time for Thailand to consider help from international friends to avoid a slide into wider violence. Even the most advanced democracies have accepted this," the think tank said.

The Government has repeatedly rejected such mediation calls.

- AP