No resolution after talks
Two-and-a-half hours of talks between Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and anti-government protesters Sunday ended without a resolution, though both sides agreed to meet again Monday and continue discussions. Abhisit recognises there is a constitutional crisis in Thailand, but he refuses to cede to pressure to dissolve parliament and call snap elections.
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Tens of thousands of Red Shirt protesters gathered in the government quarter of the capital, Bangkok, to watch the televised talks on a big screen.
"We ask you to dissolve the house within two weeks,” Jatuporn Prompan, a Red Shirt leader, told the Prime Minister and two aides. “Whatever your decision should be, if we talk tomorrow, I want you to consider this condition.”
Abhisit said dissolving parliament could be done, but not immediately, and only through a careful process.
Q+A: Correspondent Arnaud Dubus, Bangkok, Thailand
“He said there was a need first to amend the constitution,” said correspondent Arnaud Dubus. “The Prime minister clearly admits there is a problem. He says he’s willing to solve it. But he says this has to be done through a roadmap. And he said that the leader of the Red Shirts cannot impose the dissolution of the parliament.”
Dubus says the meeting seemed to have revealed a rift in the Red Shirts.
“My impression of the meeting was the Prime Minister was very articulate and very clear on his reasoning. He was very convincing, and on the side of the Red Shrits, we could see some division within the three leaders at the talks,” he said. “We could see they were not really united in what they were saying.”
The Red Shirt movement, founded by supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has been staging demonstrations since 14 March against the current government.
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