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At one point in his speech, Thaksin's tone got higher and higher. Thaksin told his supporters not to worry about him but to fight for "democracy". For those who missed it, the following is a translated excerpt from Thaksin's most belligerent speech to date.

"My dear brothers and sisters ... everyone who received benefits from the democracy that fed you during the era of Thai Rak Thai when I was prime minister. Please give a little thought about how popularly-driven democracy benefited you. Everyone who benefitted from the Bt30 healthcare scheme for all, or those who got their children back after I waged a war on drugs, and those who could live a better life after I fought the mafia, and those whose children received a better education when I brought the underground lottery above ground, as well as those of you who benefited from banking for the poor, or the village fund, the Otop programme or from the debt moratorium....

"Please rise up together all across the country. Please join the red shirts and bring back our democracy. You don't need to come to Bangkok. You can gather peacefully all around Thailand in order to tell them that we are protective of our democracy. Get democracy back and your lives will be better. No matter who is the government, only through democracy will you be happy. And to all politicians who share my ideology: don't be shy. Come out to lead the Thai people and fight for democracy.

"We don't want to hurt anyone and we won't cause damage to the country. All we want is true democracy that is truly for the people. You don't have to worry about me. Let me worry about you. Whatever you can do, either making one pot of rice or one pot of curry, please do so, so that the fight can continue.

"We want democracy for the Thai people and for your children. We want democracy to co-exist with our monarchy without all the nuisances and disruptive influences. Let's make politics something exclusively for the people only.

"My dear brothers, I'm ready. I'm ready to walk into Thailand and we walk together to tell them that we want democracy. I'm ready. Today we are just asking for democracy. We are not asking for anything more. Can we get that?

"This is not a fight for any particular individual. This is for our beloved Thailand."