Thousands of anti- government "red shirt" protestors held rallies Saturday morning outside the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel, the venue of the 14th ASEAN summit and Related summits, demanding they be given opportunities to meet foreign media.
Ten representatives of "red shirt" protestors have entered the summit venue and held a press conference. They accused the Thai government of being responsible for two injured "red shirt" protestors.
"Red shirt" protestors claimed at least two of them were wounded in shootings fired by pro-government"blue shirt" people.
"The ASEAN Summit must be stopped and the Thai prime minister must step down", the"red shirt" representatives said at the press conference.
Protestor leaders also said they will stop Thai prime minister' s convoy to prevent him from attending scheduled summits.
Earlier, the red-shirted protestors formed a line and kept advancing until they stood confronting with some "blue shirt" protestors, who the "red shirts" claimed to be pro-government people. 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 hotel.
The "red shirt" protestors also claimed the "blue shirts" planted explosive devices in roadside bushes along the way leading to the summit venue.
Early in the morning, the Summit media center, located at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), was completely cut off from outside by "red shirt" protestors'cars.
The Chinese premier, New Zealand prime minister, Japanese prime minister and South Korean president could not leave their hotels Saturday morning because the hotels were blocked by the red- shirted protesters.
The Chinese premier and South Korea president stay at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel, the Japanese prime minister at the Amari Pattaya Hotel and the New Zealand prime minister at the Dusit D2 Pattaya Hotel.
The Thai government's acting spokesman said earlier that the scheduled ASEAN-China summit has been postponed.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2009)
