Bankok: The security and health officials claimed that two explosions rocked an anti-government protest in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Friday, wounding 38 people and death of one.
The blast occurred at the rally led by Suthep Shinawatra, chief of the Peoples Democratic Reforms Committee (PDRC) movement. He escaped unhurt in the attack.
Thai demonstrators on Saturday pledged to intensify their protest against embattled Premier Yingluck Shinawatra as they held the government responsible for a grenade attack on their rally that killed one and left 38 injured.
The protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said, “The blood that spilt on the street is piercing my heart. What it [the government] has done to the Thai people is cold-blooded. Let the pain remind us and give us strength to fight until we win.”
Notify that twenty-eight people were wounded and taken to hospitals, according to the Erawan Emergency Center, a medical unit monitoring the political unrest in Thailand.
The spokesperson for the main protest group, Akanat Prompan, said the blasts Friday were the first attack on marches in daylight on a public street.
He said the first explosion took place about 30 meters from Suthep Thaugsuban, the leader of the protest group, and generated a lot of smoke.
But the situation wasn’t too chaotic, he said. Marchers continued on to the Lumpini Park area, one of their main rallying points.
Suthep said the grenade attack had not scared him and the PDRC supporters. They would make another city march today but he gave no details.
He said, “We have to continue this fight. We have invested a lot in it.”
The capital’s Erawan emergency centre had reported that a man died early on Saturday. The victim was injured from the bomb shrapnel which had pierced his chest.
Protesters, who seek to rein in the political dominance of the Shinawatra clan in the country, allege that the Yingluck regime is controlled by her fugitive brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006.
They want to install an un-elected “people’s council” to carry out reforms before the February 2 snap polls.
Meanwhile Yingluck remained defiant and said that the easy way to oust her would be to cast the ballot in the general elections as other unconstitutional ways could not fix the problems.
Notify that United Nations and the United States have called on Thai authorities and anti-government protesters to respect human rights and avoid violence during the mass demonstrations.
Authorities claimed that eight people have died and more than 450 have been wounded since demonstrations against Yingluck’s government began in November. The country is still scarred by the severe 2010 civil unrest that left about 90 people dead.
Yingluck dissolved the nation’s parliament last month and called for new elections to be held on February 2 to resolve the current crisis. The opposition Democrat Party, however said it will boycott the elections.
Bureau Report
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