Two die as rioters battle to silence Thai prime minister

THAI protesters demanding the resignation of the government set fire to cars and threw bottles and metal barricades at police, who fired tear-gas to break through their blockade around parliament yesterday.

One person was killed and more than 350 people were injured. A second person died when a car exploded elsewhere in Bangkok.

It was the most violent unrest in Thailand's six-week political crisis, in which protesters have tried to force out supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the premier who fell in 2006 amid allegations of corruption.

Tensions began building on Monday night when protesters surrounded parliament, erecting barbed-wire and tyre barricades. They vowed to block the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from entering to deliver a policy statement. Mr Somchai is Mr Thaksin's brother-in-law.

The violence erupted early in the morning when police cleared the street so he and other politicians could enter. Rioters set fire to cars, lorries and vans.

Clashes continued throughout the day, with police firing tear-gas at protesters armed with batons and slingshots.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots. The street fighting carried on after dark, with clashes erupting outside Bangkok's police headquarters.

Forces inside the compound fired tear-gas at the mob and one woman was killed.

About a mile away, a second person was killed when a car exploded near the headquarters of the Chart Thai Party, which forms part of Mr Somchai's six-party coalition.

"We used no weapon other than tear-gas and shields to clear the path for parliamentarians to go into the building," said the deputy Bangkok police chief, Major General Umnuey Nimmanno. "We did not use disproportionate force."

Mr Somchai sneaked out the back of the building and escaped the mob by climbing over a fence.

The protesters, from the People's Alliance for Democracy, want Thailand to abandon the one-man, one-vote system, which they say gives too much power to the rural poor, whom they accuse of being susceptible to vote-buying. Instead, they propose some representatives should be chosen by professions and social groups. They have not explained how that would be less prone to manipulation.

The same group was behind the 2006 fall of Mr Thaksin, who lives in exile in London.

When protesters took over the grounds of the prime minister's office on 26 August, their aim was to oust the then prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, whom they also accused of being a puppet of Mr Thaksin. They later said they also opposed his successor, Mr Somchai.

The latter was sworn in as prime minister on 25 September, but has been forced to run the government from a makeshift office at Bangkok airport.

He said he would not resign or call new elections.

He opened yesterday's session after a 90-minute delay. Chaos escalated outside as he spoke.

After the parliamentary session ended, MPs said they were too afraid to leave the building. Hundreds of people had to wait in the parliamentary compound, which was dark and uncomfortable because the electricity had been cut off. The reason for the power failure was not clear, although the protesters took responsibility.

The chaos prompted the deputy prime minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, to resign.

"What happened was partly my responsibility in failing to resolve the conflict," he said.

Besieged prime minister flown out in Huey helicopter rescue

IT COULD have been a scene from the closing chapters of the Vietnam War – US-made "Huey" helicopters flying in across a steamy south-east Asian city to rescue people trapped in a besieged compound.

But the city was Bangkok today, not Saigon in 1975, and the people included Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, holed up inside the parliament building as thousands of protesters outside called for his resignation.

The air thick with tear-gas from earlier clashes between protesters and riot police, Mr Somchai was forced to climb through a barbed wire fence at the back of parliament and on to the lawns of an adjoining palace before being flown to safety.

Left behind were hundreds of ruling party members of parliament who had gathered yesterday to hear Mr Somchai's inaugural policy address – an event the People's Alliance for Democracy demonstrators were determined to prevent. One man's leg was blown off and another lost his foot when riot police moved in just after dawn.