government protest leaders evaded capture Friday in a botched police raid, and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva unexpectedly delayed his first address to the nation in four days. Government promises to crack down on what it termed “terrorists” went awry when a protest leader at a Bangkok hotel slid down a rope from a balcony to escape riot police. Arisman Pongruangrong drove off in a getaway car with two senior police officers taken hostage by his supporters, in the latest humiliation for the government, which less than 30 minutes earlier had announced on national television that police commandos had surrounded the hotel to arrest Arisman and other protest leaders. Arisman was lowered by rope from a third-story balcony at the hotel - owned by Thaksin's family - into a waiting crowd of cheering Red Shirt supporters, as outnumbered police looked on. Arisman then announced that the Red Shirts had seized two police officers – a colonel and a major general – as hostages to ensure his safety. “I would like to thank all of the people who saved me - you have helped save democracy,” Arisman said. A second Red Shirt leader was seen climbing out of a hotel window and down a tree. It was not immediately clear if he escaped. Another two were rescued by hundreds of “red shirts”, who heavily outnumbered security forces at the hotel owned by the family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The leaders later joined around 10,000 of their supporters at a hotel and shopping centre in the middle of the city, now the main protest encampment. “If they use force to disperse us, we will flatten the entire neighborhood,” said Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader who was not among the three escapees, on a red shirt stage. Abhisit had been scheduled to address national television at 1 P.M. local (0600 GMT) from an army barracks where he has been holed up during the month-long protests, but by 5.30 P.M. he had not done so and his aides could not provide a reason. The government, which had previously said it would not directly confront the protesters, has also stepped up the rhetoric, although no troops were seen on Bangkok streets. “We will arrest and suppress the terrorists. We have set up special task forces hunting for the terrorists,” Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said before launching the attempt to snatch opposition leaders.
