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Red Shirt protesters gather at Sanam Luang in Bangkok on Saturday. -- PHOTO: AFP
More than 20,000 protesters in peaceful protest to show govt they are still a potent force
June 28, 2009
By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
The Straits Times (Singapore)
BANGKOK - RED-SHIRTED United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) supporters returned to Bangkok's Sanam Luang grounds in force on Saturday, for the first time since demonstrations turned violent in April.
More than 20,000 of them packed about a third of the sprawling site, which is around the size of two football fields, braving heavy rain and slush. Over 2,000 police and soldiers were on standby, but maintained a discreet presence at the rally itself.
The government had warned the UDD that attempts to block Government House or instigate violence would not be tolerated, but the group's leaders said they would not protest beyond the rally site and that reports of plans for violence were propaganda.
The rally, essentially designed to lift the morale of supporters and send a signal that the movement is still a force to be reckoned with, had a new theme. It is exhorting people to keep the spirit of 1932 alive and overthrow the current 'aristocrat' government, a reference to the Democrat Party, which is largely backed by the capital's old elites.
In their speeches, UDD leaders told the crowd the event was a celebration of 77 years of true democracy - invoking the change from absolute to constitutional monarchy wrought through a revolution and coup in 1932.
While the 'red shirts' had been staging smaller events across the country regularly in recent weeks, they still lacked a national- level organisation, Mr Jaran Ditta-apichai, a former national human rights commissioner who is one of the UDD's ideologues, admitted. But the UDD's propaganda machine is cranking into gear after being shut down by the government in April.
Saturday's rally was beamed 'live' on the movement's new 'People's Channel' TV station. A red shirt newspaper has also been launched, featuring articles and columns by key red shirt leaders and ideologues.
One objective of the rally was to give moral support to supporters of the opposition Puea Thai party ahead of a by-election on Sunday in Si Saket province. There is considerable overlap between the red shirt movement and the opposition Puea Thai.
'We (the party) will win but we want to win by a wide margin,' a UDD insider said. 'We have to show that people still think that the Abhisit government is not legitimate.'
The rally was peaceful and festive - but drenched in heavy thunderstorm an hour before former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra called in to speak to the crowd via telephone.
In an impassioned speech, the ousted premier blasted the government, saying it was good for only three things - 'borrowing, hiking taxes and hounding Thaksin'. The fugitive leader told his supporters that he was travelling around, but said he was lonely and appealed to them not to leave him 'dying in the desert'.
June 28, 2009
By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
The Straits Times (Singapore)
BANGKOK - RED-SHIRTED United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) supporters returned to Bangkok's Sanam Luang grounds in force on Saturday, for the first time since demonstrations turned violent in April.
More than 20,000 of them packed about a third of the sprawling site, which is around the size of two football fields, braving heavy rain and slush. Over 2,000 police and soldiers were on standby, but maintained a discreet presence at the rally itself.
The government had warned the UDD that attempts to block Government House or instigate violence would not be tolerated, but the group's leaders said they would not protest beyond the rally site and that reports of plans for violence were propaganda.
The rally, essentially designed to lift the morale of supporters and send a signal that the movement is still a force to be reckoned with, had a new theme. It is exhorting people to keep the spirit of 1932 alive and overthrow the current 'aristocrat' government, a reference to the Democrat Party, which is largely backed by the capital's old elites.
In their speeches, UDD leaders told the crowd the event was a celebration of 77 years of true democracy - invoking the change from absolute to constitutional monarchy wrought through a revolution and coup in 1932.
While the 'red shirts' had been staging smaller events across the country regularly in recent weeks, they still lacked a national- level organisation, Mr Jaran Ditta-apichai, a former national human rights commissioner who is one of the UDD's ideologues, admitted. But the UDD's propaganda machine is cranking into gear after being shut down by the government in April.
Saturday's rally was beamed 'live' on the movement's new 'People's Channel' TV station. A red shirt newspaper has also been launched, featuring articles and columns by key red shirt leaders and ideologues.
One objective of the rally was to give moral support to supporters of the opposition Puea Thai party ahead of a by-election on Sunday in Si Saket province. There is considerable overlap between the red shirt movement and the opposition Puea Thai.
'We (the party) will win but we want to win by a wide margin,' a UDD insider said. 'We have to show that people still think that the Abhisit government is not legitimate.'
The rally was peaceful and festive - but drenched in heavy thunderstorm an hour before former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra called in to speak to the crowd via telephone.
In an impassioned speech, the ousted premier blasted the government, saying it was good for only three things - 'borrowing, hiking taxes and hounding Thaksin'. The fugitive leader told his supporters that he was travelling around, but said he was lonely and appealed to them not to leave him 'dying in the desert'.
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