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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand: Red shirts set ultimatum |
| 2010-03-15 |
| [Straits Times] WELL over 150,000 red shirt protesters converged in Bangkok yesterday and gave the government until noon today to call fresh elections or face escalating protests. Despite rumours of negotiations and possible rifts behind closed doors, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared unfazed, saying in his Sunday radio programme that he had every right to stay in power because he had been legally elected in Parliament. Thousands of supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), all dressed in trademark red, streamed into Bangkok through Saturday night and all day yesterday. Many arrived in trucks and some came down the river by boat. Many local residents cheered them as they made their way to the rally site about 200m from the Democracy Monument on Rajadamnoen Avenue. At one point, the protesters were joined by about 200 Buddhist monks. The mood was festive as the 'red shirts' - most of whom support ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - rallied peacefully in the scorching heat, watched by the thousands of unarmed soldiers and policemen deployed to manage the protest. Analysts described it as the biggest protest ever in the Thai capital by the largely poorer masses. |
| Posted by:Fred |