BANGKOK – The Thai government has cancelled plans for a November election and has scrapped talks with protesters who have occupied Bangkok’s commercial district for nearly six weeks.
However, it has softened its line on an earlier crackdown threat.
Hours after announcing yesterday they would shut off power and water from midnight to thousands of anti-government protesters, authorities postponed the plan, saying it would hurt the residents in the prosperous district more than the demonstrators.
The government said it would take other measures to seal off the central Bangkok area packed with hotels, embassies, businesses, high-end apartments and two public hospitals.
Leaders of the mostly rural and urban poor protesters have remained defiant, refusing to leave their 3sq km encampment and challenging the government from behind medieval-like walls of tyres and sharpened bamboo staves.
“We will die here if we must. Your threat will not work,” Nattawut Saikua, a protest leader, told cheering supporters after the government said it might use force to disperse them.
The decision to postpone cutting off water and power followed an outcry by residents. – (Reuters)