ID :
120055
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:17
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/120055
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Thai Senate meets on political unrest
BANGKOK, May 3 (TNA) -- Thailand’s Senate Monday is holding a non-voting general session on the current political turmoil in the country to discuss solutions to the crisis, characterised by bombings and street protests by anti-government protesters demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva quit his post and call for fresh general elections.
Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej said the general session is expected to end at midnight. It allows senators speaking privileges for 12 hours, with the government having about two hours to answer their queries.
Mr Prasopsuk said the senators would advise the government ways to end the political deadlock after the meeting.
He the believed national political reform to be proposed by Mr Abhisit in which House dissolution could be shortened from nine months, proposed earlier by the prime minister during talks with key leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in late March, could be a way out to the political problem and lead to a fresh negotiations between UDD protesters and the government.
A neutral party has approached to act as a negotiations go-between, Mr Prasopsuk said, but he did not disclose who the neutral party was.
Meanwhile, several hundred staff of Chulalongkorn Hospital and Thai Red Cross Society employees early Monday gathered at the hospital and sang the national anthem, urging peace to be restored at the hospital as soon as possible.
Last Thursday night, a group of UDD protesters camped in front of Chula Hospital entered its premises they suspected that armed soldiers were hiding there. No armed soldiers were found after the raid, but inpatients were evacuated to other hospitals.
Red Shirt protesters continue to maintain barricades stretching from the entrance of the emergency building of the hospital to Sarasin Road which is about a kilometer away. Both the government and the hospital have demanded that the protesters open Ratchadamri Road from Sala Daeng intersection to Sarasin Road but UDD leaders refused.
Holding placards saying Chulalongkorn Hospital and the Thai Red Cross Society are neutral and are responsible for treating patients, officials of both units urged protesters not to interfere with the duties performed by their workers in saving human lives and to return the areas surrounding the hospital.
Because of the boisterous protest, the hospital’s emergency unit has been temporary moved to the ground floor of a nearby building, further away from the protest site. (TNA)
Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej said the general session is expected to end at midnight. It allows senators speaking privileges for 12 hours, with the government having about two hours to answer their queries.
Mr Prasopsuk said the senators would advise the government ways to end the political deadlock after the meeting.
He the believed national political reform to be proposed by Mr Abhisit in which House dissolution could be shortened from nine months, proposed earlier by the prime minister during talks with key leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in late March, could be a way out to the political problem and lead to a fresh negotiations between UDD protesters and the government.
A neutral party has approached to act as a negotiations go-between, Mr Prasopsuk said, but he did not disclose who the neutral party was.
Meanwhile, several hundred staff of Chulalongkorn Hospital and Thai Red Cross Society employees early Monday gathered at the hospital and sang the national anthem, urging peace to be restored at the hospital as soon as possible.
Last Thursday night, a group of UDD protesters camped in front of Chula Hospital entered its premises they suspected that armed soldiers were hiding there. No armed soldiers were found after the raid, but inpatients were evacuated to other hospitals.
Red Shirt protesters continue to maintain barricades stretching from the entrance of the emergency building of the hospital to Sarasin Road which is about a kilometer away. Both the government and the hospital have demanded that the protesters open Ratchadamri Road from Sala Daeng intersection to Sarasin Road but UDD leaders refused.
Holding placards saying Chulalongkorn Hospital and the Thai Red Cross Society are neutral and are responsible for treating patients, officials of both units urged protesters not to interfere with the duties performed by their workers in saving human lives and to return the areas surrounding the hospital.
Because of the boisterous protest, the hospital’s emergency unit has been temporary moved to the ground floor of a nearby building, further away from the protest site. (TNA)
