Other News
November 25, 2009 16:38 PM
Red Shirts Cancel Saturday Rally
By D. Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- The red shirt protesters have cancelled their major rally in the capital this weekend to avoid backlash from the public as it will coincide with the 82nd birthday celebration of the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader Veera Musikapong said they had no intention of spoiling the nationwide celebration to mark the birthday of the King who turns 82 on Dec 5.
Veera also blasted the Government for imposing the Internal Security Act (ISA) in the capital from Saturday to Dec 14.
"We don't want to spoil the mood of the birthday celebration. We will meet again in mid December to plan our next move," he told a press conference, here Wednesday.
It was reported earlier that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, seen as the prime mover behind the red shirts, had told the UDD to postpone the rally due to the bad timing.
The UDD had planned to gather one million people at the Democracy Monument on Saturday and march to several key locations to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve the parliament.
The Government had voiced its concern over the planned rally as it feared there could be violence as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on Thaksin's 76 billion baht assets seized by the military-backed government after he was ousted in September, 2006.
The New Politics Party, established by the rival yellow shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), had claimed that Thaksin had a five-step plan, dubbed the "Dubai declaration", to regain power.
Its secretary-general, Suriyasai Katasila was quoted by the Nation daily as saying that the plan was aimed at causing civil chaos that could lead to a military coup.
In April, thousands of red shirt protesters stormed the East Asian Summit in Pattaya and forced its cancellation, and had running battles with soldiers on the streets of Bangkok during the Songkran festival.
Thaksin, whose Thai passport had been cancelled by the authorities, currently lives in exile and was reportedly using passports issued by Nicaragua, Uganda and Montenegro under the name of Takki Shinegra.
-- BERNAMA
We provide
(subscription-based)
news coverage in our Newswire service.
