Somchai says rally is for 'true democracy', not Thaksin

Somchai and leaders of the protest echoed what Thaksin had told his supporters on the previous nights during his speech.

Thaksin, who has escaped an imprisonment sentence at home, did not make his speech on Wednesday night. The protest organisers blamed the cancellation on a two-hour interruption of the satellite-based D Station broadcast in the evening. D Station broadcasts the ongoing protest and Thaksin's video linkup.

Somchai on Wednesday night said the ongoing protest by the red shirts was for a better future of Thailand, rather than for Thaksin. "Any benefit for Thaksin will be only a by-product," he said.

He said Thailand's political vicious cycle dominated by coups was due to the fact that the voice of ordinary people had never been heard.

"We are doing this for the country and for our children and grandchildren," Somchai said of the ongoing protest by the red shirts.

The ex-PM was speaking to thousands of the red shirts gathering outside Government House. He appeared on stage at the protest site amidst loud cheers from the anti-government protesters. The bespectacled Somchai wore red a T-shirt, with a red garland around his neck.

The leaders of the protest, as well as Thaksin who has addressed the protesters nightly, describe the protest as a fight for "true democracy" in Thailand.

Somchai criticised certain provisions in the Constitution. He said the clause that requires a political party to be dissolved when only one party executive commits wrongdoing is unfair.

Somchai was forced to step down as prime minister after the Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve his People Power Party for electoral fraud.

Somchai told the audience that he was informed about an interruption of D Station broadcast of the protest in the evening. The broadcast was resumed shortly after 7 pm, and leaders of the protest blamed authorities for the interruption.

Leaders of the protest repeated their allegations that Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda was behind the coup of September 19, 2006. Veera Musigapong, a pro-Thaksin politician, continued his attack on certain privy councilors, accusing them of interfering with politics.

The protest leaders continued their attack on what they described as a political system dominated by aristocracy.

They issued a statement calling for a nationwide protest with the goal of "bringing about a true democracy within our generation".