Reuters, Bangkok :
Anti-government protesters in Thailand have retreated to a central Bangkok park, freeing up traffic after blocking big intersections for more than a month, but Thailand’s four-month political crisis looks no closer to a solution.
The protesters, who moved to Lumpini Park on the weekend after orders from their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, are banking on judicial intervention from courts widely seen as hostile to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to bring down her government.
“Bangkokians are able to go to work more easily but the state of play in Thailand has not changed since protesters scaled back,” said Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
“He (Suthep) realizes that the fate of the government won’t be determined by his group but lies in the hands of independent organizations – the anti-corruption body and the courts.”
Demonstrators seeking to overthrow Yingluck took to the streets in November and have since blockaded ministries, occupied government offices and, in January, set up camp at major traffic intersections in Bangkok.
They want Yingluck to resign to make way for an appointed “people’s council” to overhaul a political system they say has been taken hostage by her billionaire brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Although tension has eased on the streets, there was a reminder of the danger when two grenades were thrown at a Bangkok criminal court on Monday, although only one exploded and no injuries were reported, police said.
Critics have accused the criminal court of siding with demonstrators after it rejected several government requests for arrest warrants to be issued for certain protest leaders.
Yingluck faces several legal challenges, the most significant being negligence charges for mishandling a disastrous rice subsidy scheme.
