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Thai protesters to move out of most Bangkok rally sites
ABC Radio Australia - March 1, 2014
"We will stop closing Bangkok from Monday," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told supporters on Friday. "But we will escalate our shutdown of government ministries and Shinawatra businesses."
Mr Suthep says stages and barricades at major intersections in the capital will be dismantled to return the streets to the Bangkok people, in what appears to be a major backdown.
The demonstrators have occupied several key intersections in the heart of the capital for more than a month in a so-called "shutdown" of Bangkok.
Twenty-three people have been killed and more than 700 injured since the instability began four months ago. The latest move comes as worsening violence claimed the lives of four children last weekend.
They will now move into one base in Lumpini Park in the centre of the city, where many of them already sleep in tents. A government complex in the north of the city would remain under the control of an allied group, Mr Suthep said.
Thai police say protesters had managed to shut 82 ministries or state agencies since November but, as of Friday, 63 had reopened, including the finance ministry.
No televised debate
Earlier on Friday, the Thai Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, rejected a proposal from Mr Suthep that he and prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra hold a televised debate.
"Yingluck is the legitimate leader of the country and Suthep is a man with warrants for his arrest who heads an illegal movement. The prime minister should not talk to Suthep," Mr Chalerm said.
"Suthep is only proposing negotiations, even though he dismissed them before, because protest numbers are dwindling."
The crisis is hurting the Thai economy, with confidence and domestic demand both down. Data on Friday showed factory output fell 6.41 per cent in January from a year before.
However, in a move seen as positive for the government, China is planning to buy 400,000 tonnes of Thai rice, providing funds to help pay farmers who have been protesting because a state rice-buying program has run out of money.
On Thursday, Ms Yingluck was served with charges of negligence relating to the rice subsidy scheme. The case could eventually see her forced from office.
Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, asked by reporters if recent violence would trigger a coup, remained noncommittal and expressed exasperation at the question being put to him time and again. "We must not discuss this every day," he said. "I can't promise whether there will be a coup or not."
Talk of a possible civil war has also picked up recently but General Prayuth said he doubted that outcome. "We must control the situation using the law," he said. (ABC/Wires)
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