Clashes as Thai protesters trap PM at beach hotel

Anti-government protesters trapped Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva inside a beach hotel and attacked his motorcade as the kingdom’s political turmoil boiled over into violence. The clash was the most serious since supporters of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrounded Abhisit’s offices in Bangkok on March 26, and came amid mounting speculation about a possible military coup. Tuesday’s scuffles erupted after Thaksin loyalists clad in signature red shirts surrounded Abhisit’s hotel in the coastal resort of Pattaya as he held a cabinet meeting, preventing him from leaving for several hours.

Police tried to move the premier to another car but the demonstrators pulled open the door of the second vehicle and began to beat the driver and police who were escorting Abhisit, they said. The government insisted that the clashes would not derail a key summit of Southeast Asian leaders plus regional partners including China and Japan, which is due to start on Friday in Pattaya.

“The Thai military is acting under the law in supporting the work of the government… It’s impossible that military will mount a coup similar to 2006,” he said. The country remains deeply divided between Thaksin’s followers among the urban and rural poor and his foes among the traditional power cliques of the palace, military and bureaucracy.