Thai anti-government protesters refused today to end a crippling two-month street demonstration until the government accepted responsibility for a clash with troops in April that killed 25 people.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the "red shirts" for their trademark attire, said Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban must face criminal charges before they will leave central Bangkok.
The new demand crushed speculation of an imminent end to protests that have paralysed an upscale commercial district at a cost to retailers of more than $30 million in lost business, decimated Thailand's lucrative tourism industry and squeezed Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
"Once Suthep turns himself in to the police, the UDD will disperse and return home," a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told supporters. That looked highly unlikely.
Mr Suthep has denied he should be held responsible for deaths on April 10th, when troops clashed with protesters at night in Bangkok's old quarter in a gun battle that killed 20 civilians and five soldiers and wounded more than 800 people.
The government has blamed the killings on shadowy "terrorists" working with the red shirts.
Mr Suthep will appear before the Department of Special Investigation tomorrow to hear complaints filed against him by the protesters for "malfeasance which resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians", said DSI chief Tharit Pengdith. But he faces no formal charges.
"If he goes there just to listen of his accusations or to have a few pictures taken, then it really means nothing to us," said Jatuporn Prompan, another red shirt leader.
Although they refused to leave the streets, the mostly rural and working-class protesters accepted a timeframe for a general election proposed by the government for November 14th, including plans to dissolve parliament in the second half of September. That was their only concession.
Denouncing the government as "tyrants" and "murderers", their leaders set several conditions for ending their five-week occupation of Bangkok's main shopping district, including Suthep's arrest and the lifting of a ban on the People's Channel, a television station set up and financed by the red shirts.
After weekend gun and grenade attacks that killed two police officers and wounded 13 people, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had said he wanted a "clear answer" on Monday to his national reconciliation offer, which includes a new election.
The authorities are faced with the dilemma of how to dislodge thousands of protesters, including women and children, from a fortified encampment sprawling across 3sq/km of an upmarket central Bangkok shopping district.
Reuters