Gunshots rattle Bangkok as PM flees

BANGKOK—Gunmen opened fire near several opposition protest sites in Bangkok on Wednesday, stoking tensions in the capital as Thailand’s embattled prime minister flew to her political stronghold in the north.

Street violence, often targeting protesters, has become a neardaily feature of the almost fourmonth long crisis gripping Thailand, with the toll standing at 22 dead and hundreds wounded.

Thailand has announced a slump in trade figures with the biggest drop in imports in more than four years in January, as months of antigovernment protests extended their economic toll beyond falling tourism numbers.

The protesters, whose disruption of a general election this month left Thailand in political limbo, aim to topple caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and erase the influence of her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen by many as the power behind the government.

Police said unknown gunmen fired sporadically early Wednesday for around an hour in three areas of Bangkok where demonstrators are camped out alongside upscale shopping malls and luxury hotels. Nobody waswounded.

“We don’t know which side fired the shots, but the aim of the gunmen is to intimidate,” deputy national police spokesperson Anucha Romyanan told AFP.

Yingluck is under intense pressure to step down with the protesters calling for an unelected “people’s council” to tackle corruption and a culture of money politics.

Her supporters say they will not accept the removal of an elected government by the protesters, military or the courts, raising fears of a protracted standoff.

Yingluck has been summoned by an antigraft panel on Thursday to hear charges of neglect of duty in connection with a rice subsidy scheme that the opposition says is rife with corruption.

If found guilty she could be removed from office and face a five-year ban from politics.

Yingluck flew to the northern city of Chiang Rai on Wednesday to inspect government-backed projects, saying she might not attend the National Anti-Corruption Commission hearing.

But a government official who did not want to be named said Yingluck was expected to stay in northern Thailand until Friday.

Officials denied the premier was on the run from protesters, who have vowed to pursue her wherever she goes and have besieged state buildings where she has held cabinet meetings since the occupation of her headquarters in December.

“She is not avoiding the political situation in Bangkok,” said TransportMinister Chadchart Sittipunt.

Economic toll

Imports fell 15.5 percent in January from a year earlier, the biggest tumble since October 2009. Imports of computers and parts were down 19 percent from a year earlier, auto parts off 31.8 percent and consumer goods 5.3 percent. Exports dropped 2 percent.

Thailand is a regional hub for global car makers and a major producer of hard disk drives.

Thai Airways International reported a big net loss of 12 billion baht ($369 million) for 2013, including a loss of 5.65 billion in the final three months of the year.

The political unrest since November and a drop in the number of tourists visiting Thailand have added to the problems of the struggling flag carrier, whose chairman resigned last week, two months after the president said he was stepping down for health reasons.

The Thai Hotel Association said this month that occupancy rates in the capital were hovering at around 50 percent, well below the usual 80 percent at this time of year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has said the protests significantly hurt its business there in January.

Thailand had a record year for tourists in 2013, with more than 26 million visitors, but the picture began to change in the final two months, which is normally the start of the high season. Arrivals in January were barely changed from a year earlier, Tourism Authority of Thailand figures show.

Tourism accounts for about a tenth of Thailand’s gross domestic product.

More than 700 people have been wounded in street violence since demonstrators took to the streets in late October seeking to curb the political dominance of Yingluck’s billionaire family.