Demonstrators will disperse: leader

By: BangkokPost.com

Published: 14/04/2009 at 10:25 AM

Red-shirts core leader Veera Musikhapong announced an end to the current anti-government protest in Bangkok on Tuesday morning as hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Government House camp where the remaining demonstrators had gathered.

Mr Veera said the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) agreed to end the rally because they were worried about the safety of the protesters.

"This does not mean that we loose," he told the protesters, some of whom appeared to be angry with the decision.

Weng Tojirakarn, another core leader, said the UDD would continue its opposition to the government  through the international stage.

About 2,000 protesters remained at the only rally site in Bangkok, according to army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

The decision to disband was announced half an hour after Col Sansern said in a nationalised television broadcast that red-shirt protesters blocked traffic at 15 locations in Bangkok early on Tuesday, but soldiers and police were able to control the situation.

"The situation at all locations has eased," Col Sansern said, including Uruphong and Yommarat intersections and Victory Monument.

The protest was now confined to Government House where there about 2,000 protesters, he said.

He said there were two attacks on soldiers in Bangkok overnight. One soldier was seriously wounded.

Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at a military check point near Mahboonkrong shopping centre at 11.30pm on Monday, criticially wounding one soldier. He was being treated at an emergency unit at Police Hospital.

About 2.45am Tuesday a group of men in a pickup fired at soldiers at Thukchai intersection. There were no injuries.

 Col Sansern attributed the attacks to "ill-intentioned people trying to create unrest in the country".

태국의 영문 일간지 BANGKOK POST 에 나온 뉴스 내용 입니다.

시위대의 주동자인 Veera Musikhapong이 반 정부 시위를 중지 하겠다고 발표 했습니다.

오늘 내일 중으로 태국의 사태.. 진정될 것으로 보입니다.