Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra lamented that he was “really lonely” in self-imposed exile and urged thousands of cheering supporters to help him return to Thailand “to serve the public” in one of the country’s largest demonstrations in months.
More than 30,000 supporters stood in heavy rains in Bangkok on Saturday to hear the media tycoon, who addressed the crowd via telephone link from what he said was an undisclosed location near the Thai border.
The rally ended peacefully early yesterday.
The enthusiastic reception — more than two months after deadly clashes in the capital between his rural-based “red-shirt” supporters and security forces — underscored Thaksin’s continuing political clout.
Protest leaders said they were continuing to call for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s resignation, the dissolution of parliament and new elections — demands the government has repeatedly rejected.
“We come here because we want to see true democracy,” Thaksin told the crowd, gathered on the soggy Sanam Luang field in central Bangkok. “We loathe injustice. We loathe double standards. We’re here to say if you want us to stop, then return justice and true democracy.”
Thaksin serenaded the crowd with a song that included the line “Don’t leave me in Dubai” — a reference to one of the cities he has called home since he fled into exile last year after being convicted of corruption.
“I want to go back to live in a country blessed by the royal patronage of his majesty,” he said, referring to Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. “Those who stabbed me in the back, don’t worry. I’ve already forgiven you.”
The protesters accuse the country’s elite — the military, judiciary and other unelected officials — of undermining the country’s democracy and orchestrating a 2006 coup in which Thaksin was ousted.
Fearing violence, police mobilized 3,000 security officers and warned the protesters not to block Abhisit’s office, as they did for several weeks in March and April. The subsequent unrest left at least two dead and more than 120 injured.
But protest leaders said they had no plans to march to Government House. They are, however, planning more rallies although no dates have been set.
“We want to overthrow the government which has been set up by the establishment,” protest leader Jatuporn Phromphan told the crowd. “We want the dissolution of parliament. We will insist on our demands no matter how long it takes.”
Thaksin’s allies remained in power after the coup, but anti-Thaksin “yellow shirt” protesters took to the streets last year, shuttering Bangkok’s two main airports and building pressure to force them from office. They contend that voters in Thaksin’s rural base are too easily bought.
A court later disqualified the pro-Thaksin prime minister on complaints of fraud in a 2007 election. Abhisit then cobbled together a coalition to form the current government.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
RSS