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Police and anti-government "red shirt" protesters confront each other in Pattaya, April 11, 2009. A scheduled 12th ASEAN-China Summit was not held as scheduled at 9 am on Saturday due to anti-government "red shirt" blockage of all main roads in Pattaya. |
A scheduled 12th ASEAN-China Summit was postponed on Saturday because the anti-government "red shirts" blocked all main roads in Pattaya, Thailand's acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayakorn said.
A breakfast meeting between foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea has been canceled because all roads leading to the Dusit Thani hotel where the Chinese delegation stayed in were blocked by Thailand's "red-shirt" protesters.
However, the Chinese embassy spokesman Wang Ya told Xinhua that foreign ministers from China and South Korea had a brief talk since the two delegations were staying in the same hotel.
The Chinese delegation said that so far the Thai government has not announced a decision to cancel the ASEAN-China summit. The Thai government said it is considering to provide other communication vehicles, like boat or helicopter to take all delegations to the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel, the venue of the 14th ASEAN and Related Summits.
Red-shirted protesters armed with giant firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, sling shots and batons, battled with local people who formed a line to protect the venue of the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits venue on Saturday morning.
The outnumbered blue-shirted local people were scattered and ran for cover when the red-shirted people attacked them.
Several explosion sounds of firecrackers were heard and the red- shirted people were seen firing slingshots with bolts at the blue-shirted people who tried to form a line in front of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel. The red-shirted people formed a line and kept advancing until the two sides stood confronting less than one meter apart and the clash broke out. The red-shirted protesters were seen carrying Molotov cocktails but none had been thrown at the other side yet.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2009)
