Thai Protesters Strike a Deal

On Tuesday, Thai anti-government protesters stated that they welcomed a proposal from the Thai prime minister to end the violent political crisis that has paralyzed central Bangkok for nearly two months, but asked for more details on the plan before wrapping up their demonstrations. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed elections for November 14 in order to appease the Red Shirt protesters and encourage them to stop riots across the nation, which have killed 27 people and injured thousands more. Protest leaders unanimously agreed to talks with the prime minister, but said they wanted more details on the prime minister’s plans.

The protesters, who believe that Abhisit came to power illegally in 2006, said they wanted Abhisit to commit to a date for dissolving Parliament ahead of the election. That date could help determine the future balance of power in the country because the dominant party stands to influence the reshuffle of top military posts that will take place in September. The plan, which Abhisit said took into account the main grievances of the protesters, was his first real effort to reach out to his opponents after several weeks of treating their demonstrations as mainly a security problem and accusing “terrorists” in their ranks of being responsible for the deadly violence.

Abhisit has said he would proceed with the reconciliation plan even if the protesters reject it, but in that case he could not set a date for the elections. The five-point plan announced Monday calls for respect for the monarchy, reforms to solve economic injustices, free but responsible media to be overseen by an independent watchdog agency, independent investigations into violence connected with the protests, and constitutional amendments intended to level the playing field for all political parties.