| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thousands of Red Shirts rally in Thai capital |
| 2011-01-24 |
| [Straits Times] THOUSANDS of Thai 'Red Shirts' gathered in Bangkok on Sunday, police said, to mark eight months since a deadly military crackdown on their mass anti-government protest last year. Wearing their trademark colour and singing the 'Red in the Land' anthem, protesters waved banners reading 'Liar State!' and held aloft pictures of their hero, runaway former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Police said around 12,000 people joined the peaceful demonstration by the Reds, whose April and May rally last year calling for snap elections ended in festivities between troops and protesters that left more than 90 people dead. Jatuporn Prompan, a prominent figure in the movement, said Red Shirts would continue to gather twice a month, calling for the release of many of their leaders, who are in prison on terrorism charges following the 2010 unrest. He said the protest will be held until midnight but there would not be a telephone address from Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and lives abroad, having been sentenced in absentia to prison for corruption. The controversial Thaksin, who draws support among the mainly poor and working class Red Shirts but is loathed by the urban elite, spoke to a larger demonstration earlier this month. |
| Posted by:Fred |