Thai anti-government protest leader has been shot dead in Bangkok. The protest movement’s spokesman, Akanat Promphan, says Suthin Tharathin was giving a speech from a pick-up truck in the Thai capital when he was shot and killed. “The government has failed to provide any safety and security for anybody today despite the emergency decree,” he said, referring to a government order empowering police to control protests. Bangkok’s Erawan emergency centre confirmed one man had been killed and nine injured in the shooting in the city’s suburbs. Anti-government protesters forced the closure of 19 out of 50 polling stations in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Sunday, disrupting advance voting for the disputed general election.
The country’s election commission says protesters surrounded buildings, blocking officials from entering to hold advance voting in Bangkok and several southern provinces.
“Nineteen poll stations reported closed out of 50 in Bangkok,” said Puchong Nutrawong, the secretary general of the election commission. “Election officials at the poll stations could not go inside because of the protesters.”
He added it was unclear how the advance votes not cast ahead of the scheduled February 2 election will be tallied.