Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha
Bangkok: As the protests to topple the Thailand government continue unabated, with four people being killed in the capital on Tuesday, caretaker PM Yingluck Shinawatra claimed that the anti-government protest leaders were cashing in on the discontent among rice farmers who haven`t been paid as stipulated in a rice scheme initiated by her.
Meanwhile, Yingluck, the head of National Rice Committee, has also been summoned to face corruption charges regarding her rice subsidy scheme on Feb 27 as Thailand`s anti-corruption body has filed charges against her, reported the Reuters.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech today, the caretaker PM urged the protesters not to use the rice farmers` agonies to score brownie points in their protests against the government.
Urging the protest leaders to sympathize with the farmers, Shinawatra told them to stop using them, Xinhua reported.
The government was trying to shell out money either by selling stockpiled rice or by seeking loans from financial institutions, the report quoted her as saying.
Yingluck chose the speech to speak well of her rice subsidy scheme that she pioneered as a tool to boost rural income.
Her party has claimed that more than three million families of farmers have accrued the benefit of the scheme so far.
Last week, over thousands of rice farmers had upped the ante against the government by demonstrating outside the Thai government`s temporary headquarters, as they hadn`t been paid their dues.
According to Erawan Medical emergency medical services, four were killed in the clashes, including one cop. A 52 year old man died by succumbing to his head injuries and a cop dying from a gunshot in his chest.
The police are battling the protesters today in Central Bangkok where protests grew fierce with the reports of grenades being hurled at the police as said by the Department of Special Investigation.
Beside, the clashes that also left over 60 people injured.
The protesters have seized many key administration offices that the government has vowed to retake this week. Near PM`s office, Thailand Royal Police had begun to tear down the makeshift stages put up by protesters and also many gunshots were heard.
The protests have continued since last November when the government miscalculated and tried to pass Amnesty Law that would have paved the way for the return of Thaksin Shinawatra, the caretaker PM`s brother, who was ousted in 2006 in a military coup.
Since then the protest leaders have vowed to topple the `parrot regime` of Yingluck and boycotted the polls.
