Chaos resulted from clashes between anti-government protesters and police continued Tuesday in central Bangkok as MPs and cabinet ministers were blocked from leaving the Thai Parliament after a cut-short government policy address.
Thousands of protesters organized by the anti-government movement People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) besieged the Parliament and Metropolitan Police Bureau compound continued demonstrations on Tuesday morning in an attempt to block the scheduled session.
Somchai Wongsawat, the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, began delivering the policy address before the Parliament at a two-chamber joint session after President of Parliament Chai Chidchob announced the session to kick off at around 10:45 a.m. (0345 GMT).
The Prime Minister read quickly through the address quickly which ended at 1:00 p.m. (0600 GMT) to cut short the process as electrify inside the Parliament was cut off earlier by the Electricity Generation Authorities of Thailand, whose labor union was in collaboration with PAD in their protest against the government, and the meeting has to rely on make-shift power generators to carry on.
Somchai outlined the one-year initial-stage policy platform anda three-year long-term plan, with the priority being "reinstall national unity," which is apparently out of the picture amid the chaos on Tuesday.
A scheduled debate following the reading was canceled.
Only 320 senators and members of parliament, out of a 621 seatsin total for the two Houses, attended the session. 310 voted to agree on proceeding with the scheduled session.
Democrat Party, the sole opposition party in the parliament, had boycotted the session as a gesture to condemn the Somchai government for using force against the protesters.
Thai Police at 6:20 a.m. (2320 GMT, Monday) shot tear gas into the protesters in front of the Parliament to break the blockade and opened an access for the MPs and ministers to get into the compound for the meeting. The incident caused more than 70 injuries.
By noon, however, PAD protesters regained control of the accesses to the Parliament with more PAD supporters marching to the scene to join the demonstration at a call from PAD leaders.
Meanwhile after the policy address began, protesters and policein front of the Metropolitan Police Bureau clashed. At one point they were seen firing tear gas at each other.
By press time Thai TV reported the Prime Minister Somchai, as well as some MPs and ministers, has left the Parliament compound, but it remained unclear how they managed it with the blockade of PAD protesters.
PAD leaders at the central rally site inside the Government House, about 1 kilometer from the parliament, have demanded Somchai government to dissolve the House of Representatives, or Lower House, by 6:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) Tuesday, or the group would take "tough measures," which they had not clearly defined.
Source:Xinhua
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