Troops block Bangkok's 'Wall Street'

Thai troops armed with assault rifles moved into Bangkok’s central business district today to stop thousands of anti-government protesters who had threatened to march down the capital’s “Wall Street”.

The government had earlier declared Silom Road, a thoroughfare studded with bank headquarters and office buildings, off-limits to the protesters who have camped in the capital’s main shopping district nearby for weeks.

Troops initially blocked entry into the road, but then pulled back almost half its 1.5-mile length to protect a key target of the protesters, the headquarters of the Bangkok Bank, which was barricaded by barbed wire.

Many of the demonstrators, who had earlier faced off against the troops across an intersection, also pulled back.

The so-called Red Shirts claim the bank has close ties to the government.

Earlier, soldiers also patrolled the city’s most famous bar strip, Patpong Road, and an entertainment area for Japanese tourists, which are just off Silom.

Some took positions atop buildings after searching for possible snipers and along a skywalk running several hundred yards above the road.

A small contingent of riot police stayed at the entry to Silom as neatly dressed employees walked past to their offices. Some businesses along the road were shuttered.

As Thailand’s traditional New Year holiday ended, protest leaders had called for a mass rally on Silom tomorrow in their bid to oust prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

That raised concerns of more clashes after savage fighting a week ago killed 25 people.

The military declared the city’s main shopping boulevard unsafe yesterday because of large crowds of anti-government protesters and soldiers were sent to nearby high-rises to watch for any violence.

The warning by army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd was another blow for Thailand’s vital tourism sector, which accounts for 6% of the economy and has steeply declined since the protests began on March 12.

Col Sansern said military checkpoints were being set up at entry points to the capital and within Bangkok to try to prevent more Red Shirt protesters from reaching the main rally site.

The area contains upmarket shopping malls and five-star hotels that have been under virtual siege. At least six malls remained closed today.

“The protest area is unsafe. Authorities need to control it by sending security personnel into the surrounding high-rise buildings,” Col Sansern said.

He said soldiers would help “prevent people with ill intentions from infiltrating the area.”

The government accuses “terrorists” armed with guns and other weapons of orchestrating the earlier violence and says weapons were stolen from the military that have not been returned.

The protesters consist mainly of poor rural supporters of former prime minister and Manchester City FC owner Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed the military coup that ousted him in 2006.

They believe Mr Abhisit heads an illegitimate government because it came to power through a parliamentary vote after disputed court rulings ousted two elected, pro-Thaksin administrations.

The conflict has been characterised by some as class warfare, pitting the country’s vast rural poor against an elite that has traditionally held power.

Meanwhile, the rival, establishment-backed Yellow Shirt protest movement vowed to take action unless the government “strictly and efficiently enforces the law” to deal with the crisis.

The yellow-shirted protesters led months of anti-Thaksin rallies that led to the coup and their 2008 demonstrations shut Bangkok’s airports for a week to protest at a Thaksin-allied government. They retreated after Mr Abhisit’s arrival but many fear their return if he is forced out.

Mr Abhisit has come under increasing criticism for failing to clear the protesters, but a government spokesman said there were no immediate plans for a crackdown because too many people were camped in the area.