Nuamthong painted the words "[coup] destroys the country" on the side of his taxi, and the word "Suicide" on the trunk, before speeding into one of the tanks parked at the spot.

The elderly taxi driver was taken to hospital with broken ribs and injuries to his chin and his eye.

The following day, he told reporters from his bed: "I did it intentionally to protest against the junta that has destroyed our country, and I painted all the words by myself."

The name Nuamthong is now making headlines again after he hung himself from a pedestrian flyover on Vipavadi Rangsit Road on Tuesday night in his second and fatal protest against the coup.

That night, an iTV reporter who once interviewed Nuamthong, received a call from the taxi driver. Nuam-thong asked the reporter to keep the original tape recording of his interview on October 14 as he was planning to 'do something'.

Before becoming a taxi driver Nuamthong worked as a driver for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

After an autopsy, Nuamthong's wife, Boonchu Praiwal, 51, and the couple's daughter moved the body to Wat Bua-kwan temple in Nonthaburi, where a crowd of reporters gathered.

The Nation