Thai Farmers Protest to Demand Rice Payments | WPN World People News

Hundreds of farmers have rallied outside Thailand's Justice Ministry in the capital, Bangkok, to demand overdue payments for rice sold in a controversial rice subsidy program.

Protest leaders said Monday they also plan to march to the Defense Ministry, where caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has her temporary offices, to press her to take action on overdue payments.

Disruption by anti-government protesters of the February 2 snap election prevented voting from being completed in many locations. That means the government remains a caretaker administration with limited spending powers until vacant seats in parliament can be filled. The government has become involved in a dispute with the Election Commission over who has the power to set a new polling date.

The rice subsidy program, along with other populist policies, won the support of farmers, which helped Prime Minister Yingluck's party win a landslide election in 2011.

The anti-government protest movement, which is trying to topple the prime minister, is supported by the urban middle class who are angered by what they say is waste and corruption in the rice program.

Source: Voice of America