Thailand braces for 'red shirt' protests

http://www.timesofearth.com/Asia-Pacific/?NT=&nid=19289 Bangkok, Thailand - Tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed prime minister, have gathered in Bangkok to demand the government's ouster, sparking a major security operation.

Riot police and soldiers guarded government offices as part of a 50,000-strong security force deployed on the streets to prevent any outbreak of violence on Sunday.

Bangkok police said 45,000 protesters from the north and northeast of the country had turned up at the rally site by Saturday night.

The government said it expected about 70,000 Red Shirts (the colour worn by Thaksin supporters) to attend, but the protesters have said the number will be several times higher.

"We will declare our demands to the government, that it must step down and dissolve the house," Jatuporn Prompan, a Thaksin supporter said.

"If our demands are not met then we will step up our campaign on Monday but I can reassure everyone that it will be peaceful," he said.

The security forces and the government are bracing themselves for a tense few days.

"They are calling it D-Day here in the Thai capital, Bangkok, the day that the supporters of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will try to force parliament to be dissolved and for fresh elections to be called."

"Now if the demands of the so-called Red Shirts are not met, they say that they will spread out around the city and paralyse Bangkok. They are also saying that they will move onto what they are calling an important location; it's believed that location is a military base nearby, to try to apply direct pressure to the prime minister [Abhisit Vejjajiva].

"The Red Shirts claim that they can achieve their goal within four days and they still believe they can attract a million people to their protest. Realistically, the numbers are expected to be around the 100,000 mark," our correspondent said.

Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, has refused to bow to the protesters' demands and warned the public not to be complacent about the potential for violence.

Sunai Phasuk, a consultant for Human Rights Watch in Thailand, told Reuters news agency: "Vejjajiva has already made his decision that he is not going to surrender to pressure from protests, so we are now entering a period where both sides are locking horns."
The government has invoked a strict internal security act ahead of the demonstrations, allowing it to set up checkpoints, impose curfews and limit movements.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and has been living mostly in Dubai to escape a two-year jail term for corruption at home, has been encouraging his supporters to attend the rally using text messages and putting messages on his Twitter page.

The Red Shirts called the protests two weeks after Thailand's highest court confiscated $1.4bn of Thaksin's assets, frozen after the 2006 coup, saying that he had abused his power.

The Red Shirts argue that the government of Vejjajiva came to power illegitimately with the backing of coup leaders and the ruling elite, and they are demanding new elections.

The demonstrations are set to be the biggest since the Red Shirts held protests last April, which descended into violence in which two people died.

Opponents of the Red Shirts - the so-called Yellow Shirts - say that Thaksin is corrupt and fails to show sufficient loyalty to the revered Royal family.


------------
Copyright 2010 THE TIMES OF EARTH (TOE). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Thai
• protesters
• converge
• on
• Bangkok

[lovelovelove833]

Oh,man. I think "Monks, of course, should get involved in politics, not the way to run for election or become PM. But to come out on streets when political crisis is severe. Monks are most needed to closely advise the mad people. Like"demonstrators should be cool down, not use,carry peapons, not to destroy govt's property, not to use violence so and so. Meantimes, they advise govt. not to massacre civilians without any weapons in poccession. From their job has saved a lot of lives. GREAT!!

[PANNATORN]

don't lets them fool you CNN are with illuminati so as TUKSIN

TUKSIN is super corrupted do you know he spent more then a million dollars a day to keep his campaign going. come on red shirt wake up, TUKSIN are try to take over your conutry PLEASE wake up

[PANNATORN]

Please don't lets them fool you, thai gov. are not blood lust, in the matter of fact red shirt protester are the one started to burn and booming places in the first place. the the one who actually being terrorist are the red shirt

Please get your fact right

[davidchen3009]

Well what ever... There is no reason to talk trash. I just think its sad that the Thai military are shooting Thai people thats all. Once you forget about the red shirt blue shirt green shirt. And start thinking like a thai person. Then you might have a different point of view.

[davidchen3009]

@vanguard123 Just think about it, if it was you today and the military is shooting at you. And you are just a plain protester. What would your reaction be? Dont tell me youll just sit and do nothing. They burn and threaten with rocks beacause they dont have m-16's! Ya , and its really nice to provoke all these attacks on the red shirts and get them selves shot down by the military.

[davidchen3009]

@vanguard123well when there is protest, and the protesters are shot. and i mean numbers of protesters. it is very likely they will try to defend themselves. And that means burn and threaten the people who try to threaten their lives. You do the same thing.

[YangQi1]

Please let us have a new Election, please.

[steelbunzproduction]

@dkeophil they may have the courage to fight at any cost but that will not result in what they want. if they want to proove make decisions then get educated and become a politician. you ant get what you want by being violent and destructive. It will only result in their own death. and thats the truth.

[dkeophil]

@steelbunzproduction Good for you, and this is tradition that many Thais have carried with them. They're calm, nice and mind authority business for many centuries. And, this is one of the reasons that they got oppressed for so long because they don't stand for their liberties. Now they have a courage to fight for any cost. Traditionally, democracy isn't come in cheap, or doing nothing. You know that right!

[steelbunzproduction]

@noiohio you seriously need to get educated.