Thai capital tense as political rivals rally
November 24, 2013 Leave a comment
Thai capital tense as political rivals rally
24 November 2013 | 07:54 | FOCUS News Agency
Bangkok. Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators massed in Bangkok on Sunday, with a major rival rally due later as Thailand faces its most significant political street action since bloody protests in 2010, AFP reported. Authorities expect at least 50,000 anti-government protesters to gather by Sunday afternoon, with thousands more “Red Shirts” set to mobilise in another area of the city on Sunday evening in support of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s crisis-hit administration.
Both groups have vowed to remain in the capital overnight.Thailand has been rocked by periodic outbreaks of unrest since divisive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra – Yingluck’s brother – was deposed in a military coup seven years ago.
The Thai capital has already faced weeks of opposition-backed rallies sparked by an amnesty bill that could have allowed the return of Thaksin from self-imposed exile – and pardoned those responsible for a deadly military crackdown on his Red Shirt supporters.
The bill was kicked out by the Thai senate, but anti-government protesters have remained on the streets and are now seeking to topple the government, which they say acts as a stooge for Thaksin.
Addressing a large anti-government rally at the capital’s Democracy Monument, protest leader Satit Wongnongtaey hailed the strong turnout for so-called “People’s Day”.
“How can this government survive? How can the Thaksin system survive?” he said to applause from the crowd, many of whom came to the capital from the provinces.
In addition to the amnesty failure, Yingluck’s ruling Puea Thai party was battered further by a Constitutional Court ruling last week that scuppered plans for a fully elected senate.
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