Thailand prime minister’s vehicle attacked

A vehicle carrying Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was attacked by anti-government protesters Tuesday as turmoil intensified in Thailand days ahead of a key regional summit.

A group of 50 protesters smashed the rear window and pummeled Abhisit’s driver and bodyguards while the vehicle was stopped at a red light, according to local media reports and witnesses. At the time, Abhisit’s motorcade was in transit back to Bangkok after he spent several hours under siege from protesters at a beachside hotel.

Two arrests were made and government officials were quick to assure the public that the situation was under control.

“It’s OK. It did not scare me,” Abhisit, who was elected by parliament in December, told reporters.

“I can still perform my work.”

The brazen attack was carried out by red-shirted supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military putsch and now lives in exile facing a two-year prison term for corruption.

For several weeks, Thaksin backers have held raucous rallies around Bangkok, the capital, waving pictures of the billionaire telecommunications tycoon and cheering his frequent phoned-in speeches.

This United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, or UDD, has promised a 300,000-strong demonstration in Bangkok today in what the group’s leaders have called the showdown in a struggle of “democracy against aristocracy.” Rallies supporting Thaksin were held in more than 10 provinces Monday to demand that the government resign, according to local reports.

The UDD says that the coalition led by Abhisit came to power undemocratically and that Thaksin, who still commands widespread support in Thailand’s rural northeast because of his populist policies, would win a national election.

In recent months, however, Thaksin has faced mounting criticism at home and abroad. His visa was revoked by Britain in late 2008, and this week a consortium of Bangkok businessmen offered a substantial reward to anyone who brings Thaksin back to Thailand to serve his prison sentence. An estimated $2.2 billion worth of Thaksin’s assets have been frozen in Thai banks, according to local reports.

The Thai press is awash with rumors of Thaksin sightings in Africa; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Cambodia.

Some Thai analysts believe the UDD’s latest gambits may be Thaksin’s political death rattle. Shawn Crispin wrote in his popular Asia Hand column this week, “[T]he ratcheting up of tensions is more a reflection of Thaksin’s growing desperation than a show of political strength.”

The UDD protests are almost tactically identical to last year’s yellow-clad People’s Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, protests in which Bangkok’s Government House was occupied for months and the capital’s two airports were also seized en route to toppling two Thaksin-aligned governments.

It appears the color-coded rivalry between the PAD and UDD may again affect social order in Thailand and its already battered economy. Some say the conflict is only an omen of the power struggle that is expected to follow the eventual passing of Thailand’s highly revered 81-year-old monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

On Friday, the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations is scheduled to hold the second part of its annual summit at Pattaya, the site of Tuesday’s attack on Abhisit’s vehicle. Officials say the summit will continue as planned, with security forces on high alert.

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McDermid is a special correspondent.