Home > Politics > Red shirts being mobilised for siege

  • twitter
  • Print
  • Email

Red shirts being mobilised for siege


Right from day one, the Democrat-led government faces a major obstacle to running the country, with thousands of pro-Thaksin "red-shirt" protesters being mobilised from 11 provinces in the North.

 Supporters of Pheu Thai are en route to Bangkok to lay siege to Parliament in a bid to stop the Abhisit government from announcing its policies - the same ordeal that the Somchai government went through with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in October.

Petcharawat Wattapong-sirikul, chairman of the Rak Chiang Mai 51, the red-shirt group that supports ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, decided to send protesters to Bangkok on a daily basis to rally against the Democrats' government.

Some reportedly left their homes yesterday to join the rally in Sanam Luang.Meanwhile, the red-shirt group in Ubon Ratchathani has called for an "uprising" of Isaan people against MPs who betrayed Thaksin to rally against the new government.

Theerapat Watcharapol, a radio anchorman led 500 protesters to rally on the streets of Ubon yesterday, damning the MPs who defected from Pheu Thai to the Democrats coalition as traitors. They accused the MPs of being selfish and betraying poor people who voted for them. The protesters gathered outside the house of Withoon Nambutr in Muang

district and burnt an effigy of the MP.

Ubon Ratchathani governor Chuan Sirinanporn urged people not to join Theerapat's movement, saying the country stood to loose if the people were divided.

Former government spokesman Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, said the group would join red shirts across the country to protest against the new government but his group would resort to peaceful and legal ways to do it.

"We will not lay siege to Parliament to prevent the House meeting," he said.

He defended the red shirts who blocked MPs from leaving Parliament yesterday, and destroyed cars and injured some politicians after voting for the new PM, saying no leaders ordered the mob to behave that way but they were angry.

Charan Distaapicha, a leader of the DAAD, said the group would organise rallies at Sanam Luang to protest against the change of government, which he said had been done unfairly with outside influence.

The group would pressure the new government to amend the Constitution and take legal action against the PAD for its illegal occupation of Government House and closing the country's two main airports.

He said the DAAD would not resort to violence in it protests, claiming violence occurred on Monday because the red-shirts did not have leaders to control them.

He believed Prime Minister-elect Abhisit Vejjajiva would not survive the political storm and his government would be short-lived because he faced political pressure from both the PAD and the DAAD.

He said the PAD made 13 demands the new government must meet and the DAAD had two. "This will show that the change of political camps will not solve the crisis facing the country," he said.



Bookmark and Share
receive The Nation's  Breaking News

Thailand Politics News Update , Hot Politics Issues , Politics Analysis : Free Delivery

Enter your email address:

Advertisement

Politics Blog

  • Sonthi VS Sondhi

    Junta chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin is still optimistic about his ally Sondhi Limthongkul.
  • Who is the Client? Temasek or Thaksin

    Surin Upatkoon, the main shareholder in the controversial Kularb Kaew Co, was yesterday charged with a criminal offence for alleged illegal representation of a foreign company under the Foreign Business Act 1999.


Privacy Policy (c) 2007 NMG News Co., Ltd.
1854 Bangna-Trat Road, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 Thailand.
Tel 66-2-338-3000(Call Center), 66-2-338-3333, Fax 66-2-338-3334
Contact us: Nation Internet
File attachment not accepted!