Associated Press, Sunday March 14, 2010, Bangkok
via CAAI News Media
AFP Image
Leaders of tens of thousands of protesters who swarmed into Bangkok from Thailand's rural areas on Sunday threatened mass street demonstrations if the government didn't respond to their demand for a dissolution of Parliament within 24 hours.
The demonstrators, popularly known as the Red Shirts, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call new elections, which they believe will allow their political allies to regain power.
They believe Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional Thai ruling class who were jealous and fearful of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's popularity while in office from 2001 until he was ousted in a 2006 coup.
"We demand that the government will dissolve the parliament and return the power to the people," a protest leader, Veera Musikapong, told a sea of red-shirted followers.
"We will give the government 24 hours to take a decision and will camp out here until we get the answer," he added.
The protesters, who had on Saturday given a similar ultimatum which expired on Sunday, said they will march on key locations in the city if the government fails to respond by noon Monday.
These are to include the headquarters of the 11th Infantry Regiment, where Abhisit has been living in recent days.
In his weekly radio address Sunday morning, Abhisit indicated he had no plans to dissolve Parliament.
He also denied rumours that a military coup was possible and said he would not impose a state of emergency that would give the army broad powers to deal with the protests.
Traffic in Bangkok was light, businesses were shuttered and social events cancelled as many feared the four-day demonstrations, which officially began on Sunday but have been building for two days as caravans of protesters pour in from the north and northeast, would repeat past violence.
But protesters stressed they would use only peaceful means in their quest for new elections.
Police General Wichai Sangprapai, commander in the main protest area, estimated that the number of protesters throughout Bangkok could reach 150,000 on Sunday.
Local newspapers estimated the numbers at between 80,000 and 100,000, although more were still arriving from outlying areas, travelling in trucks, buses, motorcycles and boats down the Chao Phraya River.
A force of 50,000 soldiers, police and other security personnel was mobilised in the capital area. There were no reports of violence. Despite newspaper headlines warning of a "red tide" about to swamp the city, the protests took on an almost festive atmosphere with musical performances and dancing interspersed with political speeches.
The march is regarded by some as the last chance for Thaksin to return to Thailand.
The protesters, formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, are made up of followers of Thaksin, along with other people who oppose the coup that toppled him.
Thailand has been in constant political turmoil since early 2006, when demonstrations accusing Thaksin of corruption and abuse of power began.
In 2008, when Thaksin's political allies came back to power for a year, his opponents - the Yellow Shirts - occupied the prime minister's office compound for three months and seized Bangkok's two airports for a week.
Last April, the Red Shirt stormed a convention centre in the town of Pattaya during a scheduled conference of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) forcing the Prime Minster to cancel the summit and airlift the leaders out by helicopter.
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