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HARDtalk presenter Zeinab Badawi talks to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Â鶹ԼÅÄ World News about the six-week stand off between Thailand’s red shirt protesters and the government and the possibilities of martial law and civil war. The authorities say they will clamp down on the demonstrators camped in the heart of Bangkok - triggering fears of more violence and deaths. Civilians have died in clashes and the protests have spread to other parts of Thailand.

The following are key quotes from the interview. Please credit Â鶹ԼÅÄ World News.

On stepping down as Prime Minister:

Zeinab Badawi: If you truly believed yourself that you were an obstacle to Thailand recovering and getting some kind of stability, would you step down?

Abhisit Vejjajiva: Of course. I’ve never put my interests above the country's.

We are in agreement at the moment that the problems we are seeing is not a purely political problem. There are security problems involved, there are terrorist problems involved. We need to tackle all those issues at the same time. When we talk about the stability everyone wants to achieve, not a short term stability waiting for the problem, the same problem to be repeated again and again. I think at the moment all sides need to take into account the views of the other sides and find a reasonable solution. That’s what im aiming for and I'm sure that’s what the majority of Thai people want us to do.

On the Thai election process:

ZB: Thaksin Shinawatra removed in September 2006 by the military…you are a direct beneficiary of that because you came to power without an election and people don’t like that.

AV: That’s not right, that’s not right Thaksin was removed from power in fact he was only an acting Prime minster because the elections were going to be held and then after the coup they had a referendum on the new constitution. A referendum passed that constitution, we had fresh elections, it returned a parliament that was a hung parliament which actually arguably you could argue that Thaksin’s party actually took some of the minor parties who during the election campaigned, people who defected from that party.

On the possibility of civil war:

ZB: But it doesn’t look like that, (referring to AV saying that they are doing their best to make sure there will be no clashes between the two groups) quoted on the Reuters news wire April the 25th Thailand’s top broker Kim Eng Securities said ‘escalated political violence could lead to civil war'. That’s a pretty strong statement there.

AV: It is and it’s the result of protestors trying to escalate the level of violence and tension and it has obviously met with a stronger reaction from the rest of the population from the public in general who do not want to tolerate illegal activities. What the government is trying to do now is telling the public that it is up to us officials and people who need to restore order to do our job. They can express their opinions but they should avoid any kind of confrontation. We are aiming to restore order as soon as possible but at the same time we have to be aware of the need to make sure that there will be minimum losses and to make sure that we comply with international standards and respect the basic rights of people including those of the protestors.

On declaring martial law:

ZB: Will there be an announcement of martial law?

AV: Martial law would be declared by the armed forces, it’s not within my power to do so. At the moment they have no intention of doing so.
Well from my discussion with the people responsible and the people who have powers, they have no intention of declaring martial law at the moment.

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Notes to editors:

Broadcast time:
1930 GMT Tuesday 27 April 2010 on Â鶹ԼÅÄ World News Repeated 0330 Wednesday 28th April, 0830 Wednesday 28th April and 15:30 Wednesday 28th April 2010