More than 18,000 "Red Shirt" protesters loyal to fugitive premier Thaksin Shinawatra gathered in Bangkok Saturday for the biggest anti-government rally since bloody riots two months ago. Red-clad demonstrators arrived in jubilant spirits from mid-afternoon in the historic quarter of the city, staying put to listen to rousing speeches and sing songs in the evening despite heavy rains.
Protest leader Jatuporn Prompan urged supporters not to leave the rally site and reiterated the group's demands for premier Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve the house and call fresh elections. "Red shirt people, you're being put to the test. Weather should not prevent us from overthrowing this government," he said. "Abhisit must dissolve the house and return power to the people immediately." Jatuporn berated key royal advisor Prem Tinsulanonda who the Red Shirts accuse of instigating the coup that ousted Thaksin in 2006.
"Prem is still our enemy number one. He's the enemy of this country," Jatuporn told protesters. The group have said they would stay at the site until dawn on Sunday but have promised a peaceful demonstration. The government has vowed to take a tough stance on any trouble and police said more than 3,000 officers and 1,000 soldiers were on hand to guard government offices and search the crowd for trouble-makers.
Many of the protesters at the site held up placards with slogans attacking the government and pictures of their hero Thaksin. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has placed the national police chief in control of security but said he had drafted a document to invoke an internal security law that gives more power to the army in case the rally turns sour.
Major General Suporn Phansua told AFP that police estimated 30,000 to 50,000 protesters, mostly from Bangkok and surrounding provinces, could show. Thaksin, currently living in Dubai to escape a jail sentence for corruption, is due to telephone Saturday's rally at around 8:30pm (1330 GMT). "Thaksin... will talk about the government's failure to solve the economic crisis and may rebut the government's allegation (that the red shirts) plan to incite violence in the city," Jatuporn added.
The Red Shirts stormed a key Asian summit on the Thai coast on April 11, forcing its cancellation, before rampaging through the capital, leaving two people dead and 123 injured, and prompting Abhisit to declare emergency rule. Protesters clashed with security forces in Bangkok over two days but finally dispersed after troops surrounded them and threatened to move them by force.
British-born Abhisit is on an official visit to China and is due to return late Saturday. Since Thaksin's ouster in a coup in 2006, Thai society has been deeply split between his supporters among the largely rural poor and the powerful Bangkok cliques in the palace, military and bureaucracy. The kingdom has been wracked for months by rival rallies.
Opponents of Thaksin, known as "Yellow Shirts," staged protests last year that led to a nine-day blockade of Bangkok's airports and left more than 300,000 visitors stranded, badly denting the kingdom's tourist-friendly image. Thaksin has made repeated addresses to his grassroots supporters in the kingdom's north-east in recent months, telling them he is homesick and wants to return to work in Thailand.