The Nation, Pattaya
The summit of Asean leaders with dialogue partners has been postponed from 9 am Saturday after a few people injured in a clash of red-shirted and blue-shirted people outside the meeting venue. Ads by Google
The postponement was announced live on TV by the acting government spokesman, Panithan Watanayagorn.
"At this moment the Asean-China summit scheduled at 9 a.m. has been delayed and the other meetings could be postponed accordingly," he said.
Few protesters minor injured in a clash in Pattaya Saturday morning when the Asean summit with dialogue partners was about to begin.
"The government is investigating the incident," Panithan told an urgent press conference.
At 8:40 am, the red-shirted protesters armed with giant firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, sling shots and batons, battled with local people who formed a line to protect the venue of Asean +6 and Asean + 3 summits.
Government sponsored blue shirted men seen confronted with the red-shirted protesters before the clash.
Spokesman Panithan rejected the connection with the blue shirted men saying they are simply ordinary people who wanted to see the summit proceed smoothly. They showed up to prevent the red shirted protesters from disrupting the summit, he said.
The government was investigating the presence of the blue shirted men and they could be arrested if committed anything illegal, he said.
"We also concern the safety of the leaders and the people including the protesters. We are working hard to control the situation," Panithan said.
The Foreign Ministry's spokesman Tharit Charungvat, said all delegates are not the targets of the protesters. "The protesters want to humiliate the government," he said.
The red shirt protesters under the umbrella of the Democratic Alliance Against Democracy (DAAD) demanded Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and some members of the Privy Council to step down. They claimed the blue shirt men hurt them.
Reporters saw the outnumbered blue-shirted local people was scattered and ran for cover when the red-shirted people attacked them.
Several explosion sounds of firecrackers were heard and the red-shirted people were seen as firing slingshots with bolts at the blue-shirted people who tried formed a line in front of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel.
The red-shirted people formed a line and kept advancing until the two sides stood confronting less than one metre apart and the clash broke out.
The red-shirted protesters were seen carrying Molotov cocktails but none had been thrown at the other side yet.
Terrified local residents closed their houses and many were seen weeping with fear.
On Friday, the red-shirted leaders in Bangkok recruited the protesters to be deployed to Pattaya to fight against the blue-shirted ones.
About 10,000 red-shirted protesters arrived at Pattaya in over 500 taxis, 20 buses and some six-wheel trucks, motorcycles and private cars.
They reached the Phet Trakul Road where a group of red-shirted people was demonstrating at about 11:50 pm.
At 7 am, about 100 red-shirted protesters and 30 taxis blocked the exit of Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel to try to prevent the Chinese prime minister, Japanese prime minister and South Korean president to leave for a summit with Asean leaders.
Source: The Nation
1 comment:
Why Pattaya? bottled in at the Royal Cliff, one way out !
Traffic jams in Pattaya for 4 days prior to summit, whilst the traffic police were practicing traffic control.One wholly embarrasing display of incompetence.
The delegates could have been flown from BKK airport to U-Tapao,and in 10 minutes,straight into the massive Ambassador City complex.
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