Hundreds of demonstrators protested in the Thai capital Tuesday against constitutional amendments the government proposed to change the electoral system, and which would benefit its smaller coalition partners.
About 400 to 500 "Yellow Shirt" protesters demonstrated peacefully outside Parliament as lawmakers began debating the amendments and planned to return daily until a vote Thursday.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the electoral changes were not proposed to reward any particular parties.
Protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul called for a national referendum for any changes to the 2007 charter, even though it allows amendments to be made by Parliament.
"These constitutional amendments are merely aimed at pleasing the government coalition parties," Sondhi told to the crowd. "This Constitution was endorsed by more than 17 million people. If anyone wants to change it, they'd better ask them first."
The Yellow Shirts represent Thailand's traditional royalist and military elite and were originally organized to oppose populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. Their continued demonstrations in 2008 added pressure to oust two pro-Thaksin prime ministers.
The 2007 charter was crafted by allies of the military and presented to the public as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition in a national referendum which saw strong opposition from supporters of the ousted Thaksin.
The more controversial government-backed amendment would change the electoral system to have single-seat constituencies for parliament instead of multi-seat constituencies. The other would require treaties signed by the government that affect sovereignty to be approved by Parliament.
The Yellow Shirts, formally known as the People's Alliance for Democracy, agreed not to camp overnight in front of Parliament. In 2008, the group's members occupied the prime minister's offices for three months and seized Bangkok's two major airports for a week to press their demand to oust Thaksin's allies from government.
Their militant tactics inspired pro-Thaksin Red Shirts to similar actions, culminating in street protests earlier this year that turned violent and were put down by the army.
Ref: Asian Correspondent (update: Nov. 24 2010 - 11:55 am)
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น