A convoy of Thai “Red Shirts” headed to their northern heartland yesterday for rallies marking four years since the coup that ousted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and four months since deadly protests ended.
The procession of 80 cars, vans and pickup trucks snaked out of the Thai capital as 200 members of the anti-government movement made their way to Chiang Mai, protest leaders said.
Demonstrators are converging on Chiang Mai, the former stronghold of Thaksin, for a rally today marking the 2006 coup that swept him from power.
PHOTO: EPA
Red Shirts are also set to gather today at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection that was the focus of their April-May protest, during which 91 people were killed and nearly 1,900 were injured, to release 10,000 red balloons.
Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, the leader of one Red Shirt faction, said the rallies would call for authorities to free all political prisoners and reform the courts with the introduction of a jury system, as well as other land and economic measures.
“Our first demand is to release all political prisoners,” he said.
Somyot said he expects 10,000 protesters to join the demonstration in Chiang Mai — compared to an official estimate of 1,000.
He said some prominent Red Shirt leaders, still at large and wanted by police over the April and May demonstrations, would find a way to address protesters from hiding.
On Friday, 1,000 people gathered outside Bangkok’s remand prison to show solidarity with 19 senior Red Shirts jailed for having key roles in the two-month protest that ended in a bloody army crackdown on May 19. None has been convicted of any crime related to that rally.
Bangkok, which is still under a state of emergency along with six other provinces, will have an army-run command center monitoring activities and there will be another in Chiang Mai, although the decree has been lifted there.
Authorities are also planning to be out in force, with about 900 police in charge of Chiang Mai and about 3,000 in Bangkok.
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