Thai demonstrators curse Jacques Chirac

Thai demonstrators curse Jacques Chirac

BANGKOK (AFP): More than 100 demonstrators marched on the French embassy here yesterday to call for an end to nuclear weapons and a boycott of French products, and to place a curse on French president Jacques Chirac.

About 50 policemen barred the way to the embassy gates as the crowd approached with banners and slogans before proceeding with an old-fashioned black magic cursing ceremony.

A large picture of Chirac was burned and the ashes placed in a clay pot with herbs, incense and a candle. The French president's soul was said to be captured inside, and the clay top was secured with cloth, prayers and signs.

Led by university student unions and a group of artists, the demonstrators represented associations of small farmers, laborers, slum dwellers and villagers displaced by dams, as well as women and business people.

The Rights Protection Center, a group of business people formed after riots in May 1992 brought down a military-led government installed by a coup d'etat, brandished a poster calling for a boycott of French products.

Statements by the Student Federation of Thailand and non- governmental organizations denounced the French government for going ahead with the testing "in the face of a global hunger for world peace and a healthy environment."

They called on the government of Thai Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa to take a clear stand against the French government's actions, and offered their moral support to Greenpeace and those fighting to halt the tests.

The statements asked the Thai people to stop buying French products until the government of France canceled its nuclear testing program.

A group of artists chanted anti-nuclear and anti-Chirac poetry while they laid home-made French flags on the ground and set them ablaze.

The artists also spray-painted warnings of danger from radiation and nuclear bombs on the quiet side street leading to the embassy.