REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANGKOK - Tens of thousands of Thai anti-government protesters occupied parts of central Bangkok on Monday, meeting no resistance from the authorities, ratcheting up a two-month agitation to force the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Police and soldiers kept a low profile as the "Shutdown Bangkok, Restart Thailand" drive got under way in the city of about 12 million people, and the mood among protesters was festive, with many singing and dancing in the streets.
Although major intersections that normally teem with cars and trucks were blockaded, city trains and river ferries were operating, most shops were open and motorbikes plied the roads freely. But protesters said they were prepared for a long haul to tighten the noose on the capital, suggesting the crisis could drag on for days, if not weeks, threatening to inflict substantial damage on Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
The upheaval is the latest chapter in an eight-year conflict pitting Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her self-exiled brother, billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin was ousted by the army in 2006 and sentenced to jail in absentia for abuse of power in 2008, but the former telecoms tycoon still looms large over Thai politics and is the dominant force behind his sister's administration from his home in Dubai.
In a bid to end the unrest, Yingluck - who has a commanding majority in parliament - called a snap election for February 2. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has rejected the poll, which Yingluck's Puea Thai Party would probably win.
As the blockade began to bite, Yingluck invited the protest leaders and political parties for a meeting on Wednesday to discuss an Election Commision proposal to postpone the vote, according to a senior aide of the prime minister. However, the protesters are determined to install an appointed "people's council" to change the electoral system and bring in other reforms to weaken Thaksin's sway.
"This won't end easily, and the turnout today is impressive, so it seems this deadlock looks set to continue," said Sukum Nuansakul, a political analyst and former dean at Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University.
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