Thai army set to deploy more troops ahead of polls
Iran Press TV
Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:7PM GMT
The Thai army plans to increase the number of troops in the capital ahead of Sunday's general elections.
'In addition to the 5,000 soldiers we have already deployed in and around Bangkok to help monitor security, we will be increasing troops around protest sites as there are people trying to instigate violence,' media outlets quoted army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree as saying on Thursday.
The government has already warned it will not be able to contain violence if protesters try to prevent people from voting.
Anti-government protesters have begun three days of marching ahead of the scheduled elections.
The opposition protesters say they will disrupt the ballot as part of their campaign to overthrow the administration of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
They also want an appointed interim government to implement anti-corruption reforms before a new vote can be held.
The government's decision to press ahead with the elections has inflamed tensions in the capital Bangkok, where the protesters have blockaded main intersections and forced many ministries to close.
The angry demonstrators accuse the government of corruption and demand that the prime minister step down. Protesters said the political system needed to be totally reformed, stressing that the government has to be ousted and replaced by a people's council.
At least ten people have died and dozens more injured since the fresh wave of unrest broke out in last November after Bangkok proposed an amnesty bill that could have pardoned ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, setting the scene for his return to the country.
The ex-premier, ousted in 2006, has been in self-exile since 2008 to avoid a two-year prison sentence.
JR/AB
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