Security was tightened at provincial halls in many areas yesterday following a call by fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra for red shirt supporters to rally outside local government buildings.
The focus was on provinces which have a large number of red shirt supporters.
A few hundred red shirts were preparing to stage an anti-government protest at Chiang Mai provincial hall yesterday afternoon but the plan was eventually called off.
Phetchawat Wattanapong-sirikul, a leader of the red shirts from Chiang Mai, phoned from the rally site in Bangkok yesterday to urge people to prepare a siege at Chiang Mai provincial hall, a source said. He returned to the northern city later yesterday.
Thaksin phoned-in from an unknown location overseas to the red shirts' rally site on Rajdamnoen Avenue, calling for supporters in the provinces to show solidarity by rallying at provincial halls.
Crowd-control police were dispatched to the Chiang Mai provincial hall yesterday as part of tightened security measures in the North, which include more frequent police patrols for government buildings and homes of important figures.
Similar security actions were also taken in other provinces like Khon Kaen, Lampang, Nakhon Phanom and Nakhon Ratchasima.
