Word: somchai
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Confrontations between police and anti-government protesters turned violent on Oct. 7, leaving at least two people dead and hundreds injured. The riots started when police used tear gas to clear a path through a crowd of about 5,000 people blockading the Thai parliament, where new Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was attempting to give his first policy address...
...said a leader of Thailand's anti-government protest movement, the "final battle." On one side, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a hodgepodge group of demonstrators that has occupied Government House, Thailand's seat of power, since late August, forcing newly elected Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to work out of the VIP lounge of Bangkok's old airport. Pitted against the PAD are those associated with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. On the evening of Oct. 6, members of the PAD swarmed the streets around parliament in what they...
...later reported that more than 100 people were injured. This included two protesters who had parts of their legs blown off by what police said were exploding tear gas canisters. A police spokesman said the action was taken to clear a road to parliament for cabinet members to attend Somchai's speech later in the day. A few days earlier, the PAD's leadership had also taken a hit when two of its founders were arrested and charged with insurrection and inciting unrest. One of those detained was PAD cofounder Chamlong Srimuang, an elderly retired general who later refashioned himself...
...undeniable who my relatives are, but I will do things the right way.' SOMCHAI WONGSAWAT, Thailand's newly elected Prime Minister, on his brother-in-law, exiled former PM Thaksin Shinawatra...
Unlike Samak, Somchai is not one to up the ante, and he has vowed to "bring unity" back to Thailand. The new P.M. also vowed not to interfere in the ongoing court cases against his brother-in-law. Nevertheless, the basic rift between the rural poor, who support Thaksin, and the urban middle class and elite, who despise him, is only growing wider. Furthermore, another case that will reach the constitutional court in the coming months might force the dissolution of Somchai's PPP because of a vote-buying conviction against its former deputy leader. If that happens, Somchai will...