Thai Protesters Try to Regroup

Dec. 6, 2013 11:27 a.m. ETBANGKOK—Protesters on both sides of Thailand’s political divide regrouped Friday and vowed to hold massive rallies next week to remobilize their supporters.
Relative quiet remained over Bangkok a day after King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 86th birthday, a cease-fire of sorts that was expected to stretch through the weekend.
Pro-government “Red Shirt” protesters have largely been drowned out by their rivals in the Thai capital, a stronghold of opposition to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

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But their leaders said Friday that they would step in “if the government loses control” to archrival Suthep Thaugsuban, whose antigovernment demonstrators continue to occupy key locations in Bangkok, including the Finance Ministry and Government House, in a bid to pressure Ms. Yingluck out of office.
“If there’s a coup or if Suthep gains power, we will fight back,” said Tida Tawornseth, chairwoman of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, the biggest organization within the movement supporting Ms. Yingluck and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. “We will do everything, in every way. We will fight back.”
The determination of this faction—which put Ms. Yingluck in power in elections two years ago—underscores the uneasiness of a lull that may be temporary. When they rallied in a stadium by the tens of thousands last week, clashes left at least four dead and dozens injured.
Mr. Suthep’s supporters have called for a large rally Monday in the capital. The Red Shirts plan a separate gathering Tuesday in Ayuttaya, an hour’s drive north of Bangkok, which analysts say will signal their support for Ms. Yingluck while avoiding a direct confrontation in Bangkok’s streets.
The antigovernment protesters still occupy three main rally sites, though numbers have dwindled from tens of thousands to a few thousand on Friday. Three security guards for the antigovernment side were injured in two separate attacks at two rally sites, which officials blamed on teenagers and troublemakers.
“We have to end this fight by Monday,” Mr. Suthep told supporters Friday night. “A large number of people must come out to defeat the government in this nonviolent protest. It’s time for Thai people to take sides.”
The antigovernment protesters despise Mr. Thaksin, a billionaire former telecoms tycoon, and accuse Ms. Yingluck of being a stand-in for him. He was deposed by a military coup in 2006 and subsequently convicted of corruption, which he says was politically motivated, and lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai.
Ms. Yingluck failed last month to get an amnesty bill through Parliament that could have brought him home without serving jail time. Opposition to the amnesty bill triggered the protests.
Parties supporting Mr. Thaksin have won all of Thailand’s elections since 2001 and he is deeply popular in rural areas and among poorer Thais for his populist policies, such as universal health care and a microcredit fund for each village.
Mr. Suthep’s supporters, who are strong among Bangkok’s middle-class and the traditional establishment centered on the bureaucracy and military, have floated the idea that Ms. Yingluck should step aside in favor of an appointed, rather than elected, prime minister, which would have to be endorsed by the king.
The monarch has traditionally tried to stay above politics and used his birthday address Thursday to call for unity.
Analysts say that the truce around the royal birthday has provided both sides an opportunity to adjust strategy.
Mr. Suthep is struggling to gain support for his demand for an appointed prime minister and the long weekend is making it harder for him to maintain momentum to bring large numbers on the streets.
“Mr. Suthep will probably try to continue to stir up disorders in Bangkok and in the rural areas,” said Thamrongsak Petchlertanan, a political science lecturer at Rangsit University.
Ms. Yingluck’s government initially reeled as a series of government premises fell to temporary occupation by Mr. Suthep’s supporters but appears to be gaining better control of the situation.
Her call to negotiate a way out of the impasse, rather than resign as opponents have demanded, has bought her time but on Friday she nonetheless canceled trips to Russia, Japan and Myanmar planned for later this month.
U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney told reporters after visiting Ms. Yingluck that Washington commended her administration for exercising restraint.
In 2010, “Red Shirts” occupied downtown Bangkok for nine weeks to demand elections to replace a government which came to power through securing a coalition among maneuvering parliamentary factions, rather than by the outcome of a recent ballot. It included Mr. Suthep as deputy prime minister. A crackdown that he oversaw left more than 90 people dead. The Democrats were defeated in elections the following year.
—Wilawan Watcharasakwet contributed to this article.
Write to Shibani Mahtani at shibani.mahtani@wsj.com

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