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.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
RSS