The national rift over Thaksin Shinawatra deepened yesterday following Saturday's Siam Paragon scuffle, with his supporters and opponents accusing each other of instigating the incident and planning to provoke further violence.

The caretaker prime minister's Thai Rak Thai Party claimed opponents had developed a "guerrilla strategy" that involved sending a few "hooligans" to hound Thaksin at every public function.

"They will employ a suicide-bomber strategy, one which requires just a few hooligans who will boo and jeer at him wherever he goes," said Thai Rak Thai executive Pairote Suwanchawee.

"This is meant to dispirit him and lure the broadcast and print media into highlighting such incidents and invariably create an impression [of a divisive phenomenon]."

The other side insisted at a press conference yesterday that the Siam Paragon fist-fight erupted because men who looked like Thaksin's bodyguards zoomed in on protesters after a five-year-old boy shouted "plunderer get out!"

The anti-Thaksin camp said they would keep protesting at public places where Thaksin appears until "he has no place to be".

In Saturday's incident, a man was left with a swollen mouth when a shouting match between government supporters and opponents turned into a scuffle while Thaksin was opening an exhibition in honour of His Majesty the King. "We have heard that Thaksin will not set foot in Silom any more and it will also be the case with Siam Paragon," said Sangsit Piriyarang-san, leader of a group seeking social sanctions against the prime minister.

The so-called Civil Society Network to Stop the Thaksin System organised the press conference at Rajabhat University's Chankasem campus to decry what it claimed to be "uncivilised" ways of handling peaceful expression of political discontent.

"We will keep eliminating the space where Thaksin can be in Thai society," caretaker Buri Ram Senator Karun Sai-ngarm told the press conference to a big applause.

"Witnesses" appeared at the press conference to claim that Saturday's incident started with "men in black jackets" assaulting those shouting anti-Thaksin slogans. The network's leaders insisted if the incident did not involve Thaksin's bodyguards, it was an alarming sign of things to come if Thaksin, the "root cause" of the present national divide, refused to leave politics quietly.

Former veteran envoy Asda Jayanama said he had never seen anything like the Siam Paragon incident in his life.

"I have been a diplomat for 35 years and been in seven countries," he told the press conference. "I have never seen bodyguards of any prime minister attack peaceful anti-government protesters before."

The network claimed the incident took place because more and more pro-Thaksin demonstrations were being stage-managed to create the false impression that the premier remained hugely popular.

"How can Thaksin continue to preside over a nation as divided as this?" said Prasarn Maruekkapitak, leader of an anti-Thaksin businessmen's group.

"The incident was not the first and surely it won't be the last," said Suriyasai Katasila, a leader of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

"We are not sure how much more violent things can get. Our objective remains ousting the prime minister through peaceful means, but his people are trying to inflame the situation by calling us names like suicide bombers."

According to Pairote, the "hooligans" or "suicide bombers" strategy is not aimed only at ousting Thaksin, but also at neutralising Thai Rak Thai as a whole.

"The undemocratic measures coincide with attempts to delay the October 15 election. Those people believe the longer the election is delayed, the more our party will be weakened or be even more likely to break up," he said.

Thai Rak Thai deputy spokesman Jatuporn Prompan accused the anti-Thaksin movement of instigating the Siam Paragon incident and strongly criticised its "lack of respect" for an event meant to honour His Majesty.

"What if we send Thai Rak Thai followers to disrupt every gathering of the PAD? This kind of confrontation could lead to something terrible. The other side should think about this with a really open mind," Jatuporn said.

"Their admission that they sent people to create a nuisance is no different from terrorists claiming responsibility for bomb explosions."

But caretaker Bangkok Senator Wallop Tangkananurak insisted that all the scary scenarios would disappear if the man at the centre of the confrontation would step down.

"I just want to ask him if he's happy to see Thailand go on like this. Our country has never been so divided. Every good leader has to think real hard if things like this happen in his country," said Wallop.

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COMING TO BLOWS



March 27

Three hostile shopkeepers shouting "Thaksin get out!" hounded the prime minister out of a shopping area in Bangkok's Silom area.

March 30

Supporters of Thaksin in Chiang Mai attacked Democrat Party leaders and pelted them with chairs and eggs during the Democrats' rally ahead of the April 2 election.

July 22

Thaksin was greeted by well-wishers and booed by opponents, all of whom had been at Siriraj Hospital to wish His Majesty the King a quick recovery from spinal surgery.

July 31

A man shouted "Square face get out! Thaksin get out!" while Thaksin was arriving to deliver a speech at the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

August 16

Supporters of Thaksin almost clashed with members of the People's Alliance for Democracy as they waited for him at Tak City Hall.

August 19

Government supporters and anti-Thaksin protesters had a war of words and fought while Thaksin was opening an exhibition in honour of His Majesty the King at the Siam Paragon shopping centre.