Thai Pm Somchai Pelted With Shoes By Mob

Thailand's new prime minister had to flee an angry mob for the second time in a fortnight today when he was cornered in an underground car park.

A crowd of about 200 jeering government workers pelted Somchai Wongsawat with plastic water bottles and shoes as he visited the information ministry in Bangkok.

Bodyguards and security staff shielded Somchai and bustled him into a waiting car. They were apparently caught out by the ferocity of the protest despite having to deal with violent anti-government protests that have paralyzed the capital for months.

Somchai later tried to downplay it as a "colorful" incident, saying: "It was not a serious protest."

Two weeks ago Somchai had to crawl under a barbed wire fence before he was flown to safety in an army helicopter when anti-government protesters laid siege to parliament.

The demonstrators are demanding he quit over the violent police crackdown against them. They have been backed by the Thai army chief, Anupong Paochinda.

The protesters accuse Somchai of being a puppet of his brother-in-law, the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinatra, who has been sentenced in his absence to two years in jail over a land deal.

The rally today was by staff from the state telecoms operator inside the grounds of the information ministry.

The prime minister's car dodged the crowd screaming "Somchai, murderer" and drove into an underground car park. But the mob surged around him waving noisy plastic hand-clappers.

Somchai slipped into the building but emerged through the front entrance, apparently in an effort to talk to the demonstrators. But the mob threw clappers, bottles and shoes at the prime minister and his entourage.

Hurling shoes is deeply insulting in Thai culture because the feet are considered the dirtiest part of the body.