Thousands of red-shirted protesters, who for weeks had besieged the prime minister's office in Bangkok, ended their protest on Tuesday [EPA]
Published On 16 Apr 200916 Apr 2009
Share
Save
As dawn broke, the military advanced on the government complex, using armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles to block off access points [AFP]
Advertisement
The anti-government protest leaders called off the massive demonstrations and handed themselves over to the police, saying they wished to avoid casualties [AFP]
The demonstrator's withdrawal came a day after they had clashed with the military, setting fire to buses and torching a government ministry with petrol bombs [GALLO/GETTY]
The demonstrators had barricaded major road intersections in the city, which security forces cleared with repeated charges, firing shots in the air [EPA]
Bangkok became a scene of chaos, with black smoke billowing over the city of 12 million people after protesters set fire to buses to block advancing troops [GALLO/GETTY]
The so-called Red Shirts are mainly supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister who still wields huge influence among the poor, especially in rural Thailand [Reuters]
Advertisement
The protesters want Abhisit to quit and call new elections, saying he came to power through an undemocratic parliamentary vote following a court ruling that drove Thaksin's allies out of office [AFP]
The crisis broadly pits royalists, the military and the urban middle-class against the rural poor loyal to Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and lives in exile to avoid jail on a corruption conviction [GALLO/GETTY]
The protests prompted several countries to advise their citizens not to travel to Thailand, which depends heavily on tourism [Reuters]
The turmoil comes as Thailand's economy heads towards recession, hit by the twin effects of domestic political turmoil and the global financial crisis [EPA]
