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Thai anti-government protesters stage mass rally
ABC Radio Australia - March 30, 2014
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Bangkok on the eve of the Senate elections demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
While the Senate is officially non-partisan, in reality the two main political camps are vying for control of the chamber in the absence of a functioning lower house following incomplete February polls.
Large crowds of demonstrators carrying Thai flags have marched along several routes from the main park in Bangkok on Saturday. It's the first major rally since a court ruled earlier this month that February's general election was invalid.
"We will show our power to the government – people will not accept elections without immediate reforms first," rally leader Suthep Thaugsuban said on Saturday.
Hundreds of protesters also swarmed into the grounds of the government headquarters, which have not been used by Ms Yingluck's cabinet for months because of protests targeting state buildings.
Ms Yingluck has withstood five months of street rallies seeking to force her from office and end the political dominance of her family.
Thailand is bitterly divided between opponents and supporters of her elder brother, the fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin was toppled in a coup in 2006 after clashing with the royalist establishment. He fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid jail for a corruption conviction and lives in Dubai.
Political violence has left 23 people dead and hundreds wounded in grenade attacks and shootings in recent months, although the bloodshed has abated since the rallies were scaled back at the start of March.
The nation is in legislative limbo with only a caretaker government following incomplete February elections since nullified by the Constitutional Court.
Senate elections are due to be held on Sunday for about half of the seats in the upper house. However, the opposition movement wants to install a temporary unelected government to oversee electoral and anti-corruption reforms before new polls are held.
Ms Yingluck has been summoned to appear before the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) by Monday to defend herself against negligence charges linked to a rice subsidy scheme.
If indicted by the NACC, which says she ignored warnings of corruption and financial losses in the flagship policy, she would face an impeachment vote in the upper house that could result in her removal from office. (ABC/AFP)
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