adminBangkok — Thailand’s anti-corruption agency weighed charges of negligence against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday, as the leader of protests aimed at forcing her from power suggested a televised debate after weeks of refusing to talk.The charges relate to a disastrous rice subsidy scheme that paid farmers above the market price and has run out of funds, adding to the government’s woes as farmers — normally the prime minister’s biggest supporters — demand their money. More than 300 government supporters gathered outside the National Anti-Corruption Commission in north Bangkok where the charges were due to be discussed with Yingluck’s lawyers, as riot police stood guard inside the complex.
Because of the protest, the hearing had to be moved to a different location. Yingluck, who has stayed mostly out of Bangkok in recent days, did not attend.
The anti-government protesters elsewhere in the city, whose disruption of a general election this month has left Thailand in paralysis, want to topple Yingluck and erase the influence of her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen by many as the real power in the country. — AFP
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