Thai anti-government protester shot dead, more doubt over poll

BANGKOK — A Thai anti-government protest leader was shot and killed in Bangkok yesterday when violence erupted as demonstrators blocked early voting in many areas of the capital ahead of a disputed election next week.

The violence, the worst in a month, came after a State of Emergency took effect on Wednesday and adds to doubts over whether the Feb 2 election can go ahead.

Anti-government demonstrators, who are seeking to force caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down, swarmed dozens of polling stations yesterday in Thailand, chaining gates shut, threatening voters and preventing hundreds of thousands of people from casting ballots.

In a clear setback for Ms Yingluck, a senior government official said earlier yesterday that as many as 45 of the 50 polling stations set up in Bangkok for advance voting had been shut because of the protests. Early voting was also disrupted in 10 of Thailand’s 76 provinces.

A spokesman for the national police, Mr Piya Utayo, identified the dead man as Suthin Tharatin, one of the protest leaders. “Suthin was shot in the head and in the chest,” he said.

The confrontation in which Suthin was killed took place near a voting centre and left 11 others wounded. Isolated street brawls also broke out in several parts of Bangkok.

It was not immediately clear who had fired the shots, but the protesters, who aim to derail the vote, accused the government and police of trying to intimidate them.

“The government has allowed thugs to use weapons,” said Mr Akanat Promphan, a spokesman for protesters. Private gun ownership is widespread in the country.

Mr Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the protest movement had destroyed the right to vote. Mr Sunai, who was unable to vote, said demonstrators forcefully intimidated would-be voters and, in at least one case, attempted to strangle a man.

Ms Yingluck had called for the Feb 2 election in a failed bid to ease months of street protests, but the police did not disperse the crowds because of long-standing orders to avoid violence, which many fear would give the all-powerful army reason to stage a coup.

The protests are the latest eruption in a political conflict that has gripped Thailand for eight years, which broadly pits Bangkok’s middle class and elite, as well as followers in the south, against mostly poor rural backers of Ms Yingluck and her brother, ousted former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in the populous north and north-east. The protesters accuse Ms Yingluck of being Thaksin’s puppet and want an unelected “people’s council” to enact reform.

On Saturday, a government minister said Ms Yingluck was prepared to discuss cancelling the election if activists ended their protests. But the election was already in doubt after a Constitutional Court ruling on Friday that opened the possibility of a delay. The Election Commission is seeking the delay, saying the current environment is too unsettled.

The commission is supposed to be a neutral body, but critics have accused its members of taking sides. Its top executive, Mr Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, has posed for at least one photo with protesters.

Yesterday, the commission issued no public condemnation of attempts to derail voting. Analysts say that is because the courts and the country’s independent overseeing agencies are largely aligned against the current government in collusion with the army.

Ms Yingluck, who will probably win the election, is set to meet Election Commission officials tomorrow. The opposition Democrat Party plans to boycott the poll. AGENCIES