Pattaya: World leaders present in Pattaya for the Indo-Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit had to be evacuated on Saturday after anti-govt protestors stormed the venue.
The summit was been cancelled and a state of emergency was declared ion Pattaya which was later lifted.
As soon as the summit began, anti-government protestors clashed with government supporters in Pattaya near the venue of the ASEAN summit.
They used smoke bombs, stones and chased away government supporters.
Within minutes more than 2,000 protestors wearing red shirts broke into the convention hall where the summit was being held.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the town and cancelled the summit.
Within an hour, ASEAN Leaders and ministers were air-lifted out of Pattaya and flown to Bangkok.
The Vejjajiva government had already been warned of protests.
For the last three weeks, the red shirts loyal to disgraced former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had made clear their intention to target the summit.
They have accused Prime Minister Vejjajiva of being a military puppet and of conspiring with the army to overthrow Thaksin in 20006. They have also been demanded his resignation.
However, Vejjajiva is hanging on as just four months into his tenure he is not ready to throw in the towel without a fight even though he had to cancel a summit and see his nation lose nearly $4 billion in revenue.
Comments
0 comment