Fri, August 29, 2008
BANGKOK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Thai Army chief Anupong Paochinda maintained Friday afternoon no military interference in the current confrontations between the government and People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters.
A military coup, as happened on Sept. 19, 2006 in Bangkok which saw Anupong's predecessor Sonthi Boonyaratkalin led military top brass to oust then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is not a solution to the ongoing political turmoil, said Anupong.
He said that he believed it is not yet the time for the government to impose an emergency decree in the capital.
The army chief advised both sides to talk in order to solve the conflict and called on them to think of the royalty before doing anything. He also expressed confidence that police are able to control the situation.
The general's assurance came after the stand-off between police forces and PAD-led protesters broke into brief violent clashes on Friday morning when the police tried to break PAD crowds' blockade and reseize the rally sites around the Government House compound, which the protesters have occupied since Tuesday.
The protesters demanded the oust of current government led by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, which the PAD has labeled as a proxy of pro-Premier Thaksin, the group's consistent enemy since its formation in 2005.
Injuries were reported among some PAD protesters during the clashes. Police briefly regained control of the main accesses to the Government House compound in the afternoon, but later retreated in face of a reassembling PAD crowd.
Prime Minister Samak earlier on the day also reiterated that no force would be used to disperse the PAD rally inside the Government House.
