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Thailand court orders protesters to open entrances to government building

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A Thai court on Tuesday ordered demonstrators to allow limited access to Thailand's seat of government in response to a complaint filed by the Office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The Bangkok Civil Court issued an injunction ordering protesters to remove road blocks which had been erected to block access to Government House. Red-shirted members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), a group linked to exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have been surrounding the compound since last week in a bid to oust Abhisit. A UDD spokesman urged supporters to ignore the order pending an appeal, while Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban warned on Monday that "the injunction would grant a legal justification for us to enforce entry," suggesting that protesters could be arrested prior to completion of an appeal. Abhisit took over as prime minister in December, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand ordered the dissolution of the ruling People's Power Party (PPP), and banned then-prime minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years as the result of an election fraud investigation. Thaksin, ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup, was convicted on corruption charges by the Supreme Court of Thailand in October.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).