Thailand govt. calls emergency meeting

In Thailand, the government has called for an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with the ongoing political turmoil in Bangkok.

A government spokesman says the cabinet will meet Sunday morning in a special session.

Meanwhile, the opposition claim more protesters are on their way from provinces to join the 'Red Shirts' in the capital.

The calls grow on the government to agree to foreign mediation to resolve the dispute between the two sides.

The think tank International Crisis Group has warned that Thailand's political system has broken down and said the standoff could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war.

The government has repeatedly rejected calls to bring in foreign mediators.

The Red Shirts are demanding the government dissolve Parliament and call elections.

At least 27 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 wounded in the violence between protesters and security forces over the past weeks.

The Red Shirts are mainly supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and was later sentenced to two years in jail for alleged corruption.

Thaksin now lives in exile in order to avoid incarceration. Nevertheless, the former prime minister remains popular among the rural poor.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125081§ionid=351020406.