Thai Protests End With Prospect of Resignation by Prime Minister

The opposition today ended broad protests after the government agreed to a plan that could result in Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon’s resignation in months, a politician said.

The eight days of rallies by tens of thousands of people were Thailand’s largest protests in two decades.

Protesters who had been encamped on one of the city’s main streets left the area early this morning.

The English-language Bangkok Post reported today that protest organizers had agreed on a one-week “cease-fire” in their campaign to press for constitutional reforms and would resume demonstrations next Sunday if progress was unsatisfactory.

A motion of constitutional amendments is due to be submitted to Parliament on Friday, the paper said.

The decision to end the protests was made at early-morning talks among government and opposition parties, student leaders and other demonstration organizers, including pro-democracy leader Chamlong Srimuang, said Ar-ong Junsai, a Parliament member from the opposition Palang Dharma Party.

The accord was a compromise by the government, which had unyieldingly backed Suchinda, and the opposition, which had demanded Suchinda’s immediate ouster. Suchinda is a former army chief who is not an elected politician.

Ar-ong said that, before the agreement was reached, the military had planned to move in to clear the crowd--an action he predicted would have caused deaths and injuries.

Pressured by the protests, the governing coalition of five pro-military parties that chose Suchinda as prime minister agreed to constitutional reforms, including provisions requiring the prime minister to be an elected lawmaker and curtailing the powers of the military-appointed Senate.

Ar-ong said that Suchinda will become a caretaker prime minister and is expected to resign by July 1.