Doctors call for govt to step down

Some 85 doctors and medical personnel issued a statement expressing deep concern that the crisis could plunge the country into violence and greater damage than it had ever experienced.

They urged the government to resign and pave the way for the creation of a new political system accepted by all parties.

They said the conflict should be solved by political means and not by legal wrangling.

"Using the law to deal with the current problem will widen the rift and may exacerbate the situation,'' Prof Pensri Pichaisanit said, reading their statement.

Dr Adisorn Naowanont, a lecturer at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, called on Prime Minister Samak and his Cabinet to step down, saying if the government insisted on clinging to power the protest would intensify and more protesters would come from the provinces to join the rally in the capital.

The Rural Doctors' Society also issued a statement calling on the government not to crack down on the protest forcefully - otherwise it would stop cooperating with it.

The group urged the government to end the conflict by bringing former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family back from the United Kingdom to stand trial, and to take legal action against the "thugs" who assaulted the PAD in Maha Sarakham and Udon Thani.

Charat Suwanmala, dean of Chulalongkorn University's Political Science Department, said the country had witnessed a major political development: civic groups showing their strength and resorting to peaceful protests.

Although the PAD's raid on NBT was seen by some Thais as a "violent" act, such civil disobedience was normal in developed countries, he said.

"Intruding on state property, cutting of power and water are not stepping beyond the line,'' he said.

And the PAD is ready to face the consequences from its civil obedience, he said. The government, however, must not press charges that are too harsh, and should refrain from using the media as its mouthpiece.

Other Chula lecturers called on the government to reduce tension, by saying they would not amend articles 237 and 309 of the Constitution.