Thailand Cancels Summit due to Protests

Kurt Kamrath
A summit meeting of Southeastern Asian countries to be held in Thailand over the weekend was canceled after protesters broke through troops guarding the convention center. The protesters, supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra who lost power in a coup two years ago, searched the grounds for the new Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Accounts vary as to whether they were seeking to harm him. Nonetheless, he was not on site. He was eating lunch in an adjacent building with the foreign representatives. A state of emergency was declared to allow the foreign dignitaries to escape. The military offered little resistance to the protesters, and the only injuries reported were from protestors who broke through glass to gain entry to the building. The protestors held impromptu news conferences and paraded through the convention center.. However, after a few hours dispersed on their own volition. They departed Patayya where the conference was being held to return to Bangkok where protests have been ongoing since March leaving the government paralyzed.