Thai Red Shirts Rally to Support Embattled PM

Local Editor

Up to 20,000 Red Shirts were already gathered by Saturday morning, several hours ahead of the official start of the two-day rally, according to Paradorn Pattanatabut, a security adviser to the premier.

"The authorities expect more than 200,000 Red Shirts to turn out," he said, as supporters of the movement poured into the capital in buses and trucks for what is expected to be their biggest show of strength in the months-long crisis.

Paradorn said the authorities did not expect any clashes with rival anti-government protesters who have been holding daily rallies at a park in the city center, far from the site of the Red Shirt rallies.
"What we are concerned by is third parties," he said, alluding to unidentified assailants who have launched a series of gun and grenade attacks around the capital in recent months, often targeting opposition protesters.

The rival rallies have highlighted the political fault lines that have riven Thai society since a military coup toppled Thaksin in 2006.
Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon-turned-politician, who clashed with Thailand's royalist establishment, has traditionally enjoyed strong support in the northern half of the kingdom.
The ousted premier, who fled overseas in 2008 to avoid jail for a corruption conviction, is hated by many Thais in Bangkok and the south who accuse him of corruption and nepotism.

The opposition says it wants to install an unelected "neutral" leader to oversee vaguely defined reforms aimed at clamping down on corruption and reining in the Shinawatra family's political dominance.
Yingluck faces neglect of duty charges linked to a loss-making rice subsidy scheme and allegations of abuse of power over the transfer of a top security official.
Her supporters view the moves as an attempted power grab.

Hundreds of Red Shirts underwent self-defense training earlier this week to act as security guards for the rally, which is expected to be the first of a series of major protests to defend the government.
The Constitutional Court last month annulled a February general election disrupted by demonstrators, leaving Thailand in a legislative stalemate with only a caretaker government.

Thaksin-allied parties won every previous election for more than a decade. The Election Commission is due to hold talks with political parties on April 22 about holding new polls.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team