Protests in Thailand increase pressure on government
(Vatican Radio) Protesters seeking to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra surrounded
Thai government headquarters on Monday in response to police efforts to clear them
from the streets, as farmers besieged her temporary office to demand payment for rice.
Thailand
has been in crisis since November, when Bangkok's middle class and the royalist establishment
started a protest aimed at eradicating the influence of Yingluck's brother Thaksin,
a populist former premier ousted by the army in 2006 who is seen as the power behind
her government.
Dr. Virachai Techavijit, chairman of the Catholic Business
Executives Group in Thailand, told us today’s protests have put more pressure on the
government. “Now, with hundreds of thousands of farmers – who used to be the current
government’s strong grass roots on the street... This can make the pressure a little
more serious.”
He said real pressure is likely to come if the Constitutional
Court rules against the government in a number of ongoing corruption cases. The court
is also likely to rule on whether the government properly declared a state of emergency
that was imposed last month.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. Virachai
Techavijit: