PAD threatens to lay seige on Parliament

Pipop said today's PAD's rally at Parliament was just a dress rehearsal for a showdown on August 18, the date for charter debate planned by the government.

Thousands of PAD-led protesters joined the procession from Makawan Rangsan Bridge, the PAD's main rally site, to Parliament.

The PAD closed the road from the Makawan Intersection to the Intersection at the Royal Plaza at 2 pm.

It set up teams of guards, armed with baseball or golf clubs, sticks and iron bars, at each intersection.

Sirichai Maingarm, chairman of the Egat Labour Union, said about 2,000 workers of several state enterprises' unions would join the rally in the evening and would remain at the rally ground throughout the night.