BANGKOK // Tens of thousands of Thai protesters rallied on Sunday in their latest attempt to oust the prime minister, paralysing central Bangkok and vowing to block parties from registering for hotly disputed polls.
The protest followed a declaration by the main opposition Democrat Party that it would boycott a snap election called by embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for February 2.
At least 150,000 people had gathered at several sites across Bangkok by Sunday evening, the National Security Council chief, Paradorn Pattanatabut, said.
Thailand has lurched deeper and deeper into crisis despite Ms Yingluck’s attempt to dissipate the unrest by calling an election.
Demonstrators want to rid Thailand of Ms Yingluck and the influence of her Dubai-based brother Thaksin Shinawatra – an ousted billionaire ex-premier who is despised by a coalition of the southern Thai poor, the Bangkok middle classes and the elite.
They say he still controls the government from exile.
The protest leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, who has vowed to destroy the “Thaksin regime”, dismisses Ms Yingluck’s call for an election, saying it will install another Thaksin-allied government.
Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election since 2001, most recently with a landslide victory under Ms Yingluck two years ago.
Addressing a crowd at the city’s Democracy Monument, Mr Suthep urged protesters to blockade the site where the election commission is due to hold party registrations from Monday.
“Whoever wants to go inside to register will have to pass through us,” he said. “If we do not hold the country by February 2, we will shut the country down. No one will go to vote.”
The self-proclaimed People’s Democratic Reform Committee is calling for an unelected “people’s council” to be installed to oversee sweeping but loosely-defined reforms before new elections in around a year to 18 months.
* Agence France Presse
