The new PM’s maiden speech delayed due to protests

Thailand’s new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s had to delay his maiden parliamentary address after as many as 9,000 protesters blocked entrances to the building, demanding that he quit. The new PM had planned to outline his government’s program from 9:30 a.m.

As the constitution requires, Abhisit as the new prime minister was present the inaugural address to both the Senate and the House of Representatives after taking office. Abhisit’s address included details of his government’s efforts to revive economic growth and promote political reconciliation.

Thousands of red-shirted protesters loyal to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra called the blockade to try to force Abhisit to call a snap election.

“We are protesting peacefully,” Nattawut Saikuar, a rally organizer and PPP member, said by phone from the protest site in the center of Bangkok, the capital.

At present, Thailand’s political system seems divided into two camps, one backing Thaksin and his allies that relies on the nation’s rural majority for support, and the other supported by urban and royalist elites. Now, thousands of police are stationed inside parliament to protect lawmakers, said Pongsan Iam-on, Bangkok’s deputy metropolitan police chief.