ASEAN summit called off as Thai protesters storm site

Thousands of protesters smashed through a glass entrance and stormed a hotel complex in Pattaya, Thailand, today during a key meeting of regional heads of state. Thailand declared a state of emergency in the summit's host city, Pattaya, and the annual meeting of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations has been called off. Other protests have been reported in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where protesters have blocked a road, and in Udon Thani, where demonstrators have surrounded the city hall. The widespread turmoil caps a week of anti-government protests that have paralyzed Bangkok, the Thai capital, and raised new fears about the nation's political stability. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva apologized to his regional counterparts and later lifted the state of emergency in an impromptu news conference held at the abandoned venue seven hours after the protesters' assault. "Anyone who declares this a victory is an enemy of the country," said Abhisit. The demonstrators swarmed past police barricades and riot police in Pattaya for a second day to demand that Abhisit step down and dissolve the government. Protest leader Kerk Somsan said the group overran the hotel in retaliation for one of its members allegedly being shot dead and others injured by gunfire in a clash with rival protesters earlier in the day. They vowed to occupy the hotel if the government failed to make an immediate arrest in the case within one hour. A government spokesman said authorities were investigating the incident. The red-shirted protesters pushed police lines up the hotel's steps and trapped them against the entrance. After several moments, the glass doors shattered and protesters stormed the hotel. Many were waving flags, blowing whistles and horns and chanting "Thaksin!" the name of their exiled leader and benefactor, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The unarmed group raged through several adjacent buildings in the sprawling Pattaya Exhibition and Conference Center before gathering outside the meeting hall where nine leaders of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, were having lunch. The trapped leaders were evacuated by helicopter from the resort's rooftop, according to reports. The "red shirts" remained outside the venue for about 20 minutes before withdrawing to their original position at the gates of the convention center. The protesters, known collectively as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, or UDD, claim Abhisit and his 4-month-old coalition government came to power undemocratically in what they call a "silent coup" abetted by the military and Bangkok elite. The UDD has given Abhisit until the end of the three-day Thai New Year beginning on April 13 to resign. UDD leader Arisman Pongreungrong has said that if the government remains silent on demands to step down, the group will apply more pressure. "We showed the world today that the people can win. It's a victory, but it's just the first step," said Chatchai Suksom, one of many Bangkok taxi drivers who drove the roughly 90 miles to Pattaya to support the UDD. "We will stop the corrupt puppet government. We have shown the government's weakness to the world." Minutes before the break-in, Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters that the situation was under control. But earlier, UDD supporters -- including more than 100 taxis from Bangkok -- had blocked the resort's entrance and forced the postponement of a meeting between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea. The UDD also clashed with a previously unknown group wearing blue shirts outside the summit venue. Wattanayagorn said ASEAN leaders, minus Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, would meet for lunch to evaluate the future of the meeting. The UDD, and Thaksin, however, made the decision for them. The summit's botched security is a huge embarrassment to Abhisit, a 44-year-old Oxford economist, who had promised to restore stability to Thailand and boost its reeling economy. It also sets the stage for a political grudge match between Abhisit and Thaksin, a billionaire telecom tycoon whose whereabouts are unknown. Thaksin faces a two-year jail sentence for corruption but remains popular in rural northern Thailand for his populist policies while in office. His supporters claim Thaksin has the skills to guide the country during the current economic crisis and insist that he would win a national election. In recent days, Thaksin has upped his own rhetoric, delivered to his massed supporters via frequent video call-ins. He has recently said Abhisit is too young to steer the nation. On Friday, he told supporters: "Yesterday, Abhisit released a warrant for my arrest and sent two teams to catch me. I laugh, it is a child's threat. I won't give up. I am the one who leads this fight. I won an election but was kicked out by a coup and a junta. If I give up this fight, poor people will still be poor and corrupt politicians will remain in power." Thaksin was deposed in a bloodless military putsch in 2006, one of 18 coups in Thailand since it abandoned its absolute monarchy in 1932. While in power he was criticized for authoritarian policies and shady business deals involving his family. The Thai government has frozen about $2.2 billion in assets belonging to him and his family, according to reports. In late 2008, protesters clad in yellow overran Bangkok's administrative center, the Government House, and seized its two international airports in a successful campaign to topple two Thaksin-linked governments. Abhisit was appointed by parliament after his party came in second in national elections in late 2008.