Thais brand Bush a 'terrorist'
2003-10-19 11:34
Bangkok - Hundreds of Thai activists demonstrated against US foreign and trade policy here on Sunday as US President George W Bush began a state visit to Thailand where he will attend the APEC summit.
The 500 demonstrators were closely watched by some 100 uniformed police as well as plainclothes officers as they marched from a university campus to the city's downtown area.
"Arrest world criminal George Bush" and "Bush is the real world terrorist" read slogans emblazoned on banners carried by the protesters and printed on their T-shirts.
One demonstrator rode a motorcycle with a shield bearing an image of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden while a giant cut-out of Bush in a Superman outfit featuring a dollar sign and holding a missile towered over the crowd.
Other activists wore white skull masks splattered with fake blood, and draped themselves in black robes.
The group marched to a shopping district where protesters delivered speeches railing against the US invasion of Iraq while others burned joss sticks in front of an image of Bush in a ritual normally used to drive away evil spirits.
"By insisting on staging today's protest we have retrieved our Thai people's dignity and reaffirmed our right to protest although the government tried to intimidate us," organiser Giles Ungpakorn told the crowd.
"We have to go ahead and question Thaksin's government about what it will secretly give the United States in terms of military and economics," he said at the rally which represented an alliance of 10 non-governmental organisations.
The protest was however muted compared to scenes in Manila Saturday where several thousand anti-US protesters burned dozens of US flags and attempted to march on the legislature where Bush was giving an address.
Thai opposition groups and other organisations have protested Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's deployment of several hundred Thai troops to Iraq and his intention to launch free-trade negotiations with Washington.
The rally was a subject of intense debate in recent weeks as Thaksin vowed to crack down on any protests during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which Bush and 20 other world leaders, including China's Hu Jintao and Russia's Vladimir Putin, will attend.
The two-day summit begins on Monday, with anti-terrorism cooperation and measures to restart stalled multilateral trade talks topping the agenda.
Thailand's government is worried at the prospect of a large and highly visible demonstration marring the APEC summit as Bangkok comes under the international spotlight.
There is also concern because Bush and his wife Laura are on a state visit as guests of Thailand's king and queen, who are highly revered here.