Thai Red Shirt Leader Is Shot

    By James Hookway 

    BANGKOK--A progovernment Red Shirt leader was shot Wednesday in northeastern Thailand as protests against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's administration continued despite the start of a 60-day state of emergency in the capital, Bangkok.

    At least two assailants opened fire at the home of Kwanchai Praipana, a prominent leader of the Red Shirts, a mostly grass-root support group that helped Ms. Yingluck get elected in 2011. Mr. Kwanchai was shot in the shoulder and thigh, police said.

    Protesters marched to the Royal Police headquarters in downtown Bangkok, meanwhile, to denounce the imposition of the state of emergency. Police will be in charge of enforcing the laws to cope with mass protests.

    Another group of protesters demonstrated in front of a Defense Ministry facility in the north of Bangkok to ask the military to stand by their side and refuse to follow the government's order under the state of emergency. The demonstration prompted Ms. Yingluck and other ministers, who were to have a security meeting at the facility, to leave for an unknown location. The government is expected to lay out the measures it will use under the emergency decree on Wednesday.

    Mostly, people out and about at the protest sites appeared more concerned with keeping warm during an unseasonably chilly spell than the threat of mass arrests.

    There was also little visible sign of a bigger security presence.

    The largely business-as-usual response to the state of emergency is partly because Bangkok has seen it all before.

    Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Tuesday evening told supporters how he was involved in declaring a state of emergency on three separate occasions as prime minister in a previous government. The first was when protesters overran a regional diplomatic summit in 2009. The second came during riots in Bangkok the same year.

    The third decree came during mass protests in 2010 by supporters of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and whose sister, Ms. Yingluck, is now Thailand's prime minister. This was one of the few cases in which demonstrations threatened to escalate into widespread violence, prompting the government at the time to authorize the armed forces to use live ammunition to suppress the demonstrations. More than 90 people were killed, and Mr. Suthep and then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva are facing a murder charge in connection with the deaths. Messrs. Abhisit and Suthep deny the charges.

    This time, though, Thailand's army isn't likely to play much of role in enforcing the new security law, which, among other things, provides for curfews, warrantless arrests, media censorship and the deployment of military forces to support the police.

    Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has said repeatedly that the army wants to keep out of the political conflict between Ms. Yingluck and the antigovernment protesters. Ms. Yingluck's opponents want her to step aside and allow an unelected interim government to introduce more checks and balances to limit the power of populist leaders such as the Shinawatras. Gen. Prayuth told local media again Wednesday that the army won't take sides.

    While declaring a state of emergency doesn't necessarily mean that authorities are preparing a sweeping crackdown on protesters, the measure does appear to suggest that Ms. Yingluck's government might be preparing to restore some government services disrupted by the protests. The issuing of new passports, among other things, has been delayed. Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichokchaikul last week told foreign reporters that the time had come to "take back" Bangkok.

    Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a professor at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at Kyoto University, said declaring a state of emergency was unlikely to change much in Thailand.

    "I do not believe the decree will be able to disperse the protest. If anything it could encourage the protesters to incite more violence to challenge the decree," he said.

    After bombings that killed one person and injured dozens in recent days, there are concerns that violence could escalate ahead of national elections that Ms. Yingluck called for Feb. 2. Mr. Suthep and the opposition Democrat Party are opposing the ballot, insisting that a reform program should be pursued first.

    "We are looking at a very volatile situation from now until the election. I predict more deaths and casualties, despite the emerging decree being put in place," Mr. Pavin said.

    It is increasingly uncertain whether the vote will go ahead, too. Thailand's Election Commission on Wednesday asked the country's Constitutional Court to rule on whether it or the government can postpone the election until a later date. At present it is unclear whether the court will accept the commission's petition, or when it might rule.

    Write to James Hookway at