On Sunday night, about 10,000 people did it and many of them vowed to do it again last night.

They even expected more people to join them, they told The Nation during an unexpected interview at 4.30am yesterday, after the first night of the second-round rally of the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

For varying personal reasons, all of those interviewed asked that their family names and workplaces be kept confidential.

"I will come back again, no matter how long it continues," said Phornsawan, 49, a government official.

"I might go back home during the day to take some rest and come back again in the evening," said Udom, 52, a retired technician.

"I would like to continue for a second night but I have to go back to my home town tomorrow afternoon," said Phanphong, 21, a student from Lampang.

Their motives to join the political rally to unseat Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were completely different.

"I used to support Thaksin after watching TV and listening to his weekly radio speech, but I became suspicious of him and finally came to oppose him when I received the other side of the story from newspapers and weekly magazines," Phornsawan said, adding that she has to sneak away to read newspaper reports about the PAD because most of her office colleagues are pro-Thaksin.

"I don't totally believe Sondhi [Limthongkul], but what he said lit up my head to do my own analysis of social problems," she said.

Student Phanphong said he is a "kind of hardcore news consumer", so when he got the chance to visit Bangkok and saw the rally on TV, he didn't hesitate to bring a friend to spend the night at Sanam Luang.

Jarassri, a senior ministry official, said the two biggest motives for her were her background as an October 14 activist and her strong disagreement with Thaksin's policies, especially those promoting materialism among kids.

"He tries to make kids opt for less brain, lose their skills of self-analysis and commit to entertainment and material possessions. When we talk about quality of education, he thinks we mean more computer notebooks," she explained hotly before excusing herself to rush back home to prepare for her Monday's work.

Farmer Phromma Tuekdan, 77, from Roi Et, said he and about 20 neighbours travelled to Bangkok to listen to what Sondhi had to say because they wanted to know the PAD's opposing points towards Thaksin, even though some of them were members of Thai Rak Thai.

"We heard about the conflict for months and wanted to witness what is going on," he said before insisting that he travelled south at his own expense.

Technician Udom, who has his own business, was motivated mainly by the Shin share sale issue.

"I normally love following the political movement," he explained. "I support neither Thaksin nor the Democrats, but the more I listened to Sondhi and the PAD's information, the more suspicious I became towards Thaksin's policies. The end of the rope for me was his [Thaksin's] abuse of power to avoid paying tax on his billions from the share sale."

While Phanphong and Phromma said they had to return home out of necessity, Bangkok residents like Udom, Jarassri and Phornsawan confirmed that they would continue their protest at Sanam Luang. 

Kamol Sukin

The Nation