Subject: Thailand Situation (May 20's news (3))

From: [email-masked] (Yongyuth Pahirah)
Date: 19 May 92 21:05:13 GMT

PROTEST SPREADS TO PROVINCES

ANTI-GOVERNMENT protests spread to the provinces yesterday following the violent
crackdown on demonstrators in Bangkok.
 
  Demonstrations were held in Songkhla, Phuket, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si
  Thammarat, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima and Si Sa Ket provinces.
 
  In Chiang Mai, about 4,500 people rallied in Muang district to mourn the
  deaths of those killed in the political uprising.
 
  A lecturer at Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Education, Somchot Hongsakul,
  said local government officials, students and villagers planned to petition
  His Majesty the King to seek his intervention to end the massacre.
 
  Another Chiang Mai University lecturer, Nithi Iamwongsa, said academics also
  will propose that the five government coalition parties withdraw their
  endorsement for the premiership of Suchinda Kraprayoon, so the ex-military
  leader will be deposed and the violence will end.
 
  Students and teachers of Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Medicine said they
  will suspend classes until the government stops using force to quell the
  pro-democracy protests and Suchinda resigns.
 
  In Nakhon Ratchasima, doctors and nurses at the government-run Maharaj
  Hospital in Muang district briefly stopped work in protest against the mass
  killings of demonstrators in Bangkok. They also agreed to dress in black to
  mourn the deaths of the victims.
 
  About 5,000 medical personnel and their family members signed a statement
  opposing the violent suppression of the protesters. Many patients and their
  relatives and friends at the hospital also signed the referendum.
 
  The medical personnel met Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Damrong Rattanapanit at
  the provincial hall about 1.30 pm to submit the statement to him. Hundreds of
  officials at the provincial hall loudly cheered and applauded the group in a
  unusual show of support.
 
  Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Nakhon Ratchasima provincial
  town yesterday in a massive protest against the killing of the demonstrators
  in Bangkok.
 
  Protest organizers called on the military to stop using force and urged
  Suchinda to resign to avoid a further bloodbath. They also demanded that the
  government free all protesters who have been arrested.
 
  The organizers of the rally at the Thao Suranaree Monument also introduced to
  the crowd those who witnessed the massacre in Bangkok on Monday night. The
  audience angrily shouted an anti-Suchinda slogan after the witnesses narrated
  what they had seen. Some burst into tears and said the people would never back
  down.
 
  Protest leaders said they collected about Bt10,000 from the audience and would
  send the money to Suchinda for the plane ticket he would need when he would
  have to flee the country.
 
  They also demand that the 15 Nakhon Ratchasima MPs stop serving the
  ``dictatorial government''.
 
  By 3 pm, about 100 policemen and soldiers were mobilized to keep peace. Their
  presence, however, was greeted with boos from the demonstrators.
 
  In Nakhon Si Thammarat, about 2,000 people and college students gathered on a
  public ground in Muang district yesterday to condemn the bloody crackdown.
 
  Somchai Fangcholachit, a pro-democracy activist and a lawyer, told the rally
  Suchinda could not deny responsibility for the massacre of the demonstrators.
 
  ``Suchinda has killed a lot of our fellow citizens so he deserves to die. He
  must pay for their lives with his life,'' said Somchai.
 
  The activist also threatened to lead a mob to seize the Nakhon Si
  Thammarat-based Fourth Army Region to collect weapons to help those fighting
  with bare hands against heavily-armed troops.
 
  Many local people, including businessmen and teachers, questioned by The
  Nation said they were against the armed suppression of demonstrators. They
  said the best way to end the bloodbath would be for Suchinda to resign as
  prime minister.
 
  In Songkhla, about 2,000 protesters marched from the Prince of Songkhla
  University to the provincial hall about 10 am for a rally which demanded that
  Suchinda resign.
 
  The demonstrators, many of whom were students and academics, called on
  Songkhla Governor Pokkrong Chindapol to suspend routine jobs at the provincial
  hall until the premier resigns but their demand was rejected.
 
  Protest leaders also lowered the national flag at the provincial hall to
  half-mast to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in Bangkok during the
  past two days.
 
  President of the Prince of Songkhla University Teachers' Council, Pramoj
  Chuthaporn, called for more protests in other provinces and proposed that
  government officials nationwide walk off their jobs to help press for
  Suchinda's resignation.
 
  ``Let's see whether they will fire all government officials who will join the
  protests,'' he said.
 
  Major investors, businessmen and people in general should withdraw their money
  from the Thai Military Bank so the military could not rotate their money to
  support its activities, Pramoj suggested.
 
  Private businesses should also shut down so those people could join the
  protests against Suchinda's rise to power, said the academic.
 
  Pramoj said the Prince of Songkhla University was closed after lecturers and
  students agreed to join the continuing anti-Suchinda rally and he believed
  other universities would follow suit.
 
  President of the Association of Hat Yai Hoteliers, Songchai Chirachotkamjorn,
  said during the rally that tourism in Hat Yai, Songkhla's best-known bustling
  commercial town, has suffered its worst decline since the reports of the
  violent crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising in Bangkok.
 
  ``What the government is doing is hitting tourism 100 times harder than have
  reports on the spread of Aids,'' he said.
 
  Vice chairman of the Prince of Songkhla University Student Council, Yutthana
  Limpapanit, said his group has received positive responses from many activist
  groups that were asked to join the protests and call for a stop to the mass
  killing of demonstrators.
 
  The protesters moved from Songkhla provincial hall to rally at Hat Yai railway
  station about 5 pm.
 
  After news on the massacre of protesters in Bangkok reached Hat Yai, most
  visiting tourists from Malaysia were reported to have left. Hotels and
  entertainment places in the southern commercial town were almost empty at
  night.
 
  Many people were seen visiting newstands to buy newspapers. Some said they
  wanted to see the facts of what was going on in Bangkok because they could not
  rely on reports from government-controlled TV and radio.
 
  In Surat Thani, about 2,500 people gathered at the Sri Surat public ground in
  Muang district yesterday to demand that Suchinda resign and the violent
  suppression of protesters in Bangkok stop.
 
  ``Surat Thani people cannot accept Suchinda as prime minister,'' said
  Sitthichok Thammadeja, a leader of the Democracy Protection Group.
 
  In Phuket, about 1,000 people gathered in a religious ceremony near Sarasin
  Bridge, which links the island province with the mainland, yesterday morning
  to mourn the deaths of the demonstrators.
 
  A demonstration coordinator, Sermsak Piyatham, said the mourning would be
  organized at the same spot every day until the killing stops.
 
  Demostration leaders said they were shocked by troops' violent suppression of
  the anti-Suchinda protesters.
 
  Phuket Governor Yuwat Wuthimethee met the mourners about 11 am and asked them
  to gather in peace.
 
  Yuwat also received from the mourners a petition signed by 20,000 people,
  calling for a stop to the killing of pro-democracy demonstrators and for the
  release of protest leaders, including Chamlong Srimuang.
 
  Another rally was held in Si Sa Ket province yesterday. The rally, staged in
  front of the provincial railway station, drew about 1,000 people including 300
  teachers.
 
  All government and state enterprise officials were ordered by the government
  not to join the widespread anti-government rallies. The Nakhon Ratchasima
  teachers, however, said they did not fear any retaliation from the
  authorities.
 
  The anti-Suchinda protests, which have been going on in the northeastern
  province since Sunday, were reported to have attracted more and more people.