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Red-shirt leaders, including Jatuporn Promphan and Natthawut Saikua, were hit with eggs thrown by supposed Pheu Thai supporters while seeking votes for party candidate Chamras Wiangsong, who is contesting a by-election on Sunday.

The crowd started to get agitated and booed Jatuporn and Natthawut had they took a swipe at faction leader Newin Chidchob, who was a founder of the red-shirt movement but has jumped over to the Democrat-led coalition.

Natthawut was the first campaign speaker. He mainly made sarcastic remarks about Abhisit Vejjajiva, saying the new PM relied on his good looks and not his brain to do his job.

In concluding, he alluded to the split between Pheu Thai Party and Newin.

"I really don't want to be on the other side of Newin but the political situation has forced us to separate," he said, inferring disdain for Newin's switch. But with the rally on Newin's home turf, his remarks drew boos from the crowd.

Picking on Natthawut's theme, Jatuporn also made snide remarks about the Abhisit government and Newin's role. After about three minutes, people began to throw eggs and water bottles onto the stage and brought the rally to an end.

Police had to intervene and escort the speakers, Chamras and his campaign workers away.

Chamras moved on to other rally sites amid tight security but there was no repeat of the disruption as speakers made no further reference to Newin.

Chamras filed a complaint later asking police to investigate and charge perpetrators for their unruly conduct.

Jatuporn said yesterday he suspected there was a plot to disrupt the campaign rally.

"I still believe a political group was behind the egg pelting in order to sow distrust between red-shirt crowds and their core leaders like myself and Natthawut," he said.

Natthawut said under-handed tactics had been used to try to turn the crowds against their leaders.