Hopes faded in Thailand Thursday for a swift end to weeks of deadly protests after both sides accused each other of insincerity and squabbled over a “national reconciliation” plan calling for November elections. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would dissolve parliament in the second half of September, responding to calls by thousands of anti-government protesters for a specific election timetable to end a crisis that has killed 27 people, wounded more than 1,000 and damaged Thailand's economy. But that failed to convince thousands of the mostly rural and urban poor red-shirted protesters who remained encamped in a 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) stretch of upscale department stores, hotels and expensive apartments they've occupied since April 3. “We still have problems with many issues,” Nattawut Saikua, a “red shirt” leader, told reporters. They had yet to agree to Abhisit's offer of a Nov. 14 election, he added. The supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appeared to be setting up for an even longer stay in what has become a tented city-within-a-city. Nattawut questioned whether the plan proposed by Abhisit this week had support from the government's traditional backers – after a group representing the interests of the royalist aristocracy and elite establishment condemned the plan. The “yellow shirts”, whose eight-day occupation of Bangkok's airport in 2008 helped bring down a Thaksin-allied government, said Abhisit should resign if he cannot enforce the law. They added the plan could pave the way for an amnesty for banned politicians allied with Thaksin. Abhisit said dissolution would take place between Sept. 15 and 30 under laws requiring that parliament be dissolved 45 to 60 days before an election. But if the red shirts remained on the streets, he could not dissolve parliament at all, he added. “If they show insincerity...I won't dissolve parliament,” he said. Protest leaders remained skeptical.
