Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Chonburi province including Pattaya, venue of ASEAN and related summits after anti-government protesters broke into the conference center.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) related summits scheduled on April 10-12 have been canceled because of security reason, the Thai government announced Saturday.
The summits have been postponed to a later date, said Panitan Waltanyakorn, the acting government spokesman. He did not give a specific new date.
Before the announcement of cancellation of summits, the red- shirted protesters had broken into the summits venue and the media center, which made the summits impossible.
After the emergency decree, the protesters have begun to retreat from the media center and the meeting venue.
Foreign leaders of the participating countries started to evacuate from hotels after the meetings were canceled.
Earlier, protester leaders said they would stop Thai prime minister's convoy to prevent him from attending scheduled summits.
In the morning, the summit media center, located at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), was completely cut off from outside by red-shirted protesters' cars.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2009)
