More than 5,000 police were expected to be deployed on Bangkok’s streets yesterday as Thailand braced itself for a fresh anti-government rally by supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The group was expected to gather in a park yesterday evening before marching to Government House to make a series of demands, adopting the tactics of their foes, who occupied the main government offices for three months last year.
Lieutenant General Suchart Mueankaoe, commander of Bangkok Metropolitan police, said that 5,250 officers would police the event, with many more on standby along with military units.
Rally leader Nattawut Saikuar said he was not worried by the level of security.
“We are not worried over government threats to crack down on demonstrators as our rally is peaceful, unarmed and legal,” he said.
The protesters — known as the “Red Shirts” because their crimson clothes show they oppose the yellow-clad, anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) — said up to 50,000 people could attend the demonstration.
Hundreds of pro-Thaksin supporters had already begun arriving at Sanam Luang park in central Bangkok by yesterday morning, with the main throng expected from 4pm.
But police said they expected 20,000 people to present their three demands to government — for those involved in the siege of Bangkok’s airports in November to be fired from government jobs and then prosecuted and for parliament to be dissolved.
Prime Minister Abbhisit Vejjajiva sparked outrage on taking the top job in December by appointing PAD sympathiser Kasit Piromya to the post of foreign minister and two other PAD members to key advisory positions.
“Those people are considered conspirators in blockading the airports and we demand the authorities speed up the prosecution against them,” Nattawut said.
A huge stage was erected in preparation for the event yesterday. Protest leaders are scheduled to address the crowd with a series of speeches ahead of a march to Government House at 9pm.
But Nattawut said the group’s real figurehead, Thaksin Shinawatra, would not be phoning in from exile to address his supporters.
National police chief General Patcharawat Wongsuwan has promised not to obstruct the rally, but vowed to arrest any protesters who violate the law.
Thousands of anti-Thaksin protesters marched to Government House in August and occupied it for three months as they tried to topple the government elected in December 2007.
They said the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was running the country on behalf of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. Thaksin remains enormously divisive, despite living in exile for most of the time since the putsch.
The PAD escalated their campaign and seized Bangkok’s two airports from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, and eventually got their wish when a court dissolved the PPP and forced then-premier Somchai Wongsawat from office.
The move paved the way for the Democrat Party’s Abhisit Vejjajiva to be elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote in December, alienating many PPP supporters who felt robbed of their democratic rights.
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