Bangkok: Opposition leaders moved to impeach Thailand's prime minister Monday for his handling of rioting and violence in Bangkok that left at least 88 people dead in clashes between demonstrators and troops over the past two months.
The measure was expected to be easily defeated in Parliament, making it a largely symbolic move as the shell-shocked capital took steps back toward normalcy. Schools and many offices opened for the first time after a week of government-ordered holidays and following efforts to clean up parts of the capital barricaded by the Red Shirt protesters or burned in riots.
Opposition whip Wittaya Buranasiri said the motion to impeach Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was introduced by the opposition Pheu Thai Party — allies of ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, whom the Red Shirt protesters generally support. It also sought to censure several of his top Cabinet members.
Members of the Pheu Thai submitted the impeachment measure to Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondet. They allege Abhisit and his deputy prime minister abused their power.
Rifts
The motions underscore a growing political and social rift that has opened up since the Red Shirt protesters swept into Bangkok in March to begin two months of protests demanding Abhisit resign and call early elections.
The protesters moved into Bangkok's central business district, building bamboo-and-tire barricades and controlling checkpoints that crippled one of the city's most important shopping and tourism areas.
While the protests themselves were generally peaceful, several shootings and grenade attacks were blamed on a militant Red Shirt wing. Two military crackdowns led to deadly street clashes between soldiers and protesters.
All told, at least 88 people — mostly Red Shirts who were shot — died in protest-related violence, including 16 people killed in last Wednesday's crackdown when soldiers stormed Red Shirt strongholds. Some protesters fired grenades and torched dozens of buildings as they fled in the worst political violence Bangkok has seen in decades.
All but one of the top Red Shirt leadership were in custody yesterday after the surrender of two more key figures, but the nation's deputy prime minister warned that the movement behind the protests is still a threat.
Suthachai Yimprasert and Somyot Pruksakasaemsuk surrendered to police yesterday morning, the government's Thai News Agency said
Thailand's stock exchange, one of dozens of buildings torches as the protesters fled a military push on their main protest site last week, reopened yesterday, along with much of the transport system.
The capital remained under a nighttime curfew, however, and a state of emergency.
