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Thai Cabinet Approves Extra Funds to Contain Protests

   VOA News 02 May 2010
   An  anti-government  protester  throws an old tire as they shift their
   barricade  after shutting it yet again, outside Chulalongkorn Hospital
   in Bangkok, Thailand, 02 May 2010

Photo: AP

   An  anti-government  protester  throws an old tire as they shift their
   barricade  after shutting it yet again, outside Chulalongkorn Hospital
   in Bangkok, Thailand, 02 May 2010

   Thailand's  Cabinet  has  approved special funding for law enforcement
   agencies to contain anti-government protests that have paralyzed parts
   of Bangkok for seven weeks.

   In  an  emergency  meeting Sunday, the Thai Cabinet allocated about $8
   million for the police and about $900,000 for a special investigations
   agency.

   Thousands  of  opposition  activists  known  as  Red  Shirts have been
   occupying  sections  of Bangkok since mid-March in a campaign to force
   Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call early elections.

   In  a  weekly televised address, Mr. Abhisit said he has a plan to end
   the  crisis,  but  did  not  elaborate.  He  also dismissed calls from
   government supporters to declare martial law to allow troops to remove
   the  protesters. Mr. Abhisit said martial law is not the right tool to
   solve the problem.

   The  Thai  prime  minister said the government still hopes to persuade
   the Red Shirts to leave their encampment voluntarily.

   Red  Shirt  activists  made  a gesture toward the government Sunday by
   shifting  a  barricade  of  tires away from a hospital to allow better
   access to the building.

   The Red Shirts drew public criticism when a group of activists stormed
   into  Bangkok's  Chulalongkorn  hospital Thursday looking for soldiers
   they  thought were preparing an attack against them. Red Shirt leaders
   have since apologized for the incident.

   The Red Shirts are mostly rural poor and urban working class activists
   who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006
   coup on allegations of corruption.

   They view Prime Minister Abhisit's government as a puppet of Bangkok's
   elite  and  the  military  and accuse it of taking office illegally in
   2008.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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