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Thai Troops Move Into Bangkok Business District

   VOA News 18 April 2010

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   Thai  soldiers stand outside a go-go bar on Patpong Road Monday, April
   19, 2010, in the business district of downtown Bangkok, Thailand. Thai
   troops  armed  with assault rifles have moved to block Bangkok's prime
   business   district   not   far   from  thousands  of  anti-government
   protesters.

   Armed  Thai troops have moved into Bangkok's central business district
   to keep anti-government protesters from holding a planned rally.
   The   security  forces  moved  into  place  early  Monday,  after  the
   government  declared  the area, including the Silom Road thoroughfare,
   off-limits to the demonstrators.
   Army  spokesman  Sansern  Kaewkamnerd said checkpoints had been set up
   across  the  capital  in  an effort to prevent more of the protesters,
   known  as  Red Shirts, from reaching a mass rally site where thousands
   have gathered since last week.
   The Red Shirts say they plan another massive demonstration on Tuesday.
   Also Sunday, a spokesman for the pro-government Yellow Shirts said the
   group  will  take  action  unless  the government ends the Red Shirts'
   protest within seven days. Â
   The   Red   Shirts,   supporters  of  exiled  Prime  Minister  Thaksin
   Shinawatra,  have  shut  down much of central Bangkok since last week.
   They  are  demanding  new  elections,  claiming Prime Minister Abhisit
   Vejjajiva was installed illegally.
   In  2008,  the Yellow Shirts held a weeklong blockade of Bangkok's two
   main  airports  to  protest  the Thaksin government. The Yellow Shirts
   accuse  Mr.  Thaksin of corruption and disrespecting Thailand's widely
   beloved monarchy. Â
   Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AP.

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