In a humiliating setback for the Thai government of prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the country was yesterday forced to cancel a summit of Asian leaders in the seaside resort of Pattaya and fly nine of them by helicopter to a military base after protesters stormed the conference centre.
The demonstrators - supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Sinawatra known as the Red Shirts - were demanding Abhisit's resignation as they stormed the conference's media centre. Local media said that Thaksin had asked his supporters to "swarm the summit venue" - Royal Cliff Beach Hotel - and force him to step down.
Thaksin was deposed in 2006 following a military coup. Abhisit came into power in December after opposition defections which the opposition says were stage-managed by the country's military. Thailand has now had four prime ministers in 15 months, none of whom has been able to heal the country's political divisions.
The latest factional violence follows warnings from some observers that the country is in danger of slipping into a "mobocracy". Thailand's political crisis has been escalating since last year amid a clash of personalities and deep disagreements over what the nature of the political system should be in the aftermath of the 2006 military coup, one of 18 the country has witnessed. The 2006 coup deposing Thaksin accused him of corruption. A deeply divisive figure, he is popular with the rural poor but largely loathed by urban Thais.
Although the red-shirted protesters had earlier agreed to break up, they claimed that they had been attacked by blue-shirted government supporters, triggering the assault. "There were at least two cases of shootings aimed to harm our supporters, a clear evidence of government supporters possessing guns and using them directly at us," the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship said. Those claims could not immediately be verified.
"The meeting cannot go on. We have to consider the security of the leaders," said government spokesman Supachai Jaisamuth said. "The situation is too violent."
The attack on the conference centre is only the latest incident of street violence in Thailand's increasingly fractious political crisis. The country, which has been one of the worst hit in the region by the global economic meltdown, last year saw a two-month siege to Government House - the office of the prime minister - by yellow-clad supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy, who also closed two of the country's airports.
The chaos dealt a major blow to Abhisit, who has been trying to project an image of normality since taking power in a parliamentary vote four months ago, after a court dissolved the previous government for election fraud. It also scuttles a chance for the 16 regional leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, to confer on ways to combat the global slump which has battered Asia's export-oriented economies. North Korea's recent rocket launch also was to be discussed at the weekend summit.
The East Asia Summit brings together the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand for discussions about trade, economic issues and regional security.