Students challenge Abhisit

While the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime has been working assiduously to repress and silence all opposition, a group of  about 100 students from 14 universities, members of youth groups and the Students’ Federation of Thailand, has refused to be cowed.

From Matichon

The Nation reports that a “special Government House meeting … with university students in which goodwill gestures were expected…”. Indeed, Prime Minister Abhisit planned to record the event and to use it in his weekly television broadcast.

Instead, Abhisit found himself “faced with difficult questions from them over deaths during the red-shirt protests in May in addition to calls for him to resign.” One of the brave students “asked Abhisit to step down and prove his innocence in the deaths of anti-government demonstrators through the justice system, drawing applause from all students.”

He was also challenged “on several acts by the authorities considered intimidation against those on the opposite side of the government…”. In a revealing response, Abhisit told how “it felt strange for him to keep reminding government officials to use only non-violent measures with ‘the people who threatened to kill me and my family’.” The personalization of the conflict by the man ultimately responsible for 91 deaths is remarkable.

Abhisit also talked of investigations into the deaths and injuries, adding that he “had never ordered an all-out suppression of the protests.” Who did then? The last few days have seen everyone on the government side engaging in Schultzian-like denials of responsibility for everything and knowledge of anything related to the deaths and injuries.

Indeed, Abhisit apparently referred to “mysterious murders in Wat Pathum Wanaram.” He did, however, link these murders to  a “reported … firefight between armed men and soldiers escorting fire trucks that were putting out fires at CentralWorld and other shops.” Abhisit claimed: “This firefight occurred along Rama I Road and could have later resulted in the shooting in the temple.” (But see PPT’s posts on these murders.)

PPT applauds the students. We also expect that they will now be subject to vile yellow-shirt attacks.