Thousands of royalist protesters stormed Thai state broadcaster NBT on Tuesday, halting programming, as a part of demonstrations to try to overthrow the elected coalition government.

NBT journalists abandoned their studio in favour of a room at the Bangkok Traffic Police headquarters, from where they resumed transmission after an hour of disruption.

“We can’t broadcast from the Vibhavadi headquarters as there are 5,000 protesters on the premises,” NBT chief Suriyong Hoonthasarn told Reuters.

The stock market fell two percent at the opening bell amid fears of clashes between demonstrators and police, although it was down 1.55 percent by 0400 GMT, broadly in line with other bourses in the region.

The Bangkok share market has shed nearly 23% since the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a motley group of monarchist businessmen and academics, launched its campaign to unseat the government on May 25.

The baht eased to around 34.22 against the dollar, its weakest since November, from a 34.09 close on Monday.

Earlier, police arrested 80 people armed with pistols, golf clubs and knives after they burst into NBT studios as part of a prelude to wider protests organised by PAD. When thousands of PAD supporters massed, police stood aside.

“They shouted ‘Get out, get out’ at us repeatedly. All 150 of us were rounded up for a short while before police arrived and talked them down to the ground floor,” newscaster Soifah Osukonthip said on air.

Station chief Suriyong said the demonstrators were declaring it a “people’s revolution day”.

In office but not in power

The PAD said it was looking for hundreds of thousands of people to join a rally at Government House that forced Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to move his weekly cabinet meeting to a military compound north of Bangkok.

Police said they were expecting only up to 35,000.

Whatever the real numbers, analysts said the disruption to the government at a time of stuttering growth and decade-high inflation was the last thing the economy needed.

“This government is in office, but not in power,” said Nick Bibby of Barclays Capital in Singapore. “We need to have greater clarity that this government is going to be around next year.”

With the second anniversary of the September 19, 2006, coup against then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra only three weeks away, army chief General Anupong Paochinda said the military would not intervene to restore order.

“The army will not launch a coup. The people can be assured,” he told Channel 3 television. “This is the police’s job.”

National police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong said on Monday police would not confront the demonstrators, but would be backed up by fire trucks and ambulances. He did not say how many riot police would be deployed.

Samak, accused by the PAD of being a proxy for Thaksin, said in a televised speech on Monday he was not threatened by the rally and would hold his weekly cabinet meeting.

“If they break any law, they will be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

Source: Reuters

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