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Somchai refuses to quit, rebuffs Army

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of Thailand said on Friday that he will stay in power, despite growing calls for his resignation after a deadly confrontation between police and protesters last week.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 19:48 October 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

Bangkok: Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of Thailand said on Friday that he will stay in power, despite growing calls for his resignation after a deadly confrontation between police and protesters last week.

Somchai made the announcement amid a deepening political crisis that has nearly paralyzed the government and raised fears the army could seize power in its second coup in two years.

"The government cannot just abandon its work and responsibility. We have many major projects coming up," he said in a news conference that was televised nationally.

Somchai took office last month, and he immediately became a target of anti-government protesters because of his relationship to his brother-in-law, the deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

A demonstration against his government turned into a violent confrontation between police and protesters last week that left one demonstrator dead and hundreds of others injured.

Some demonstrators at that protest carried guns, iron rods, slingshots and rocks, and rioters set fire to parked cars, trucks and vans. The police have been accused of firing exploding canisters of tear gas that badly wounded many of the protesters.

Somchai established a special panel to look into the incident and said he expected a report in the next 15 days.

"What happened is not what we intended," he said Friday. "Whatever the result" of the investigation, "the government will accept it. If someone has to take responsibility, we will accept it."

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