Anti-government protestors mass in Bangkok for showdown

Mar 14, 2010, 4:20 GMT

Bangkok - Tens of thousands of protestors from provinces throughout Thailand massed in Bangkok Sunday to pressure the government to resign and call new elections.

An estimated 100,000 followers of the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) had gathered early Sunday on Rajdamnoen Avenue in the old part of Bangkok for a demonstration aimed at toppling the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Protestors were still streaming in to the capital Sunday, some of them on an armada of 200 small boats coming down the Chao Phraya River from Ayutthaya.

But the numbers appeared far short of the 'million man march' that the 'red shirt' UDD had promised.

Thus far the demonstrations have been non-violent.

'I want to thank the red shirts for keeping order,' Abhisit said in a television broadcast Sunday. 'But the government is worried about some groups within the red shirts who might try to create a confrontation.'

The government placed Bangkok and seven surrounding provinces under the Internal Security Act as of Thursday, empowering authorities to prohibit protests in sensitive areas and arrest perpetrators of violence for up to a year.

If the situation takes a turn for the worse, Abhisit can invoke the Emergency Act, putting security directly under the military instead of the police, and allowing greater immunity for security personnel.

The UDD is calling on Abhsiit to dissolve parliament by Monday, or they say they will ratchet up their confrontational tactics in such a way to induce a crackdown.

'We will only need four days to deal with the government,' warend Jatuporn Pomphan, a leader of the UDD.

The UDD is a mass movement whose broad goals are to force Abhisit to resign and new elections to be called to pave the way for a political comeback for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, continues to hold sway over millions of the country's urban and rural poor and also enjoys support from a broad spectrum of Thai society intent on changing the status quo.

The populist politician was toppled in a military coup in September 2006 and has been living in self-imposed exile, mostly in Dubai, since August that year to avoid a two-year jail sentence on abuse-of-power charges.

Thailand's Supreme Court for Political Office Holders on February 26 ordered the seizure of 1.4 billion of the 2.3 billion dollars in frozen bank assets belonging to Thaksin and his family.

The court found him guilty of abusing his power to benefit his business empire and of holding a larger-than-allowed share in Thaksin-founded Shin Corp during his time as prime minister.

The former telecommunications tycoon on Saturday night delivered a phone-in message to his supporters gathered at Rajdamnoen Avenue, thanking them for coming.

'The more you come out, the more I want to fight,' he said. 'I'm so grateful to all of you and I'll go back to pay you back,' he promised.

Thaksin on Saturday denied that the UAE had asked him to leave Dubai, but admitted he was travelling to Europe this weekend to visit his two daughters in Germany, according to Thai media.

His ex-wife and three children all left Thailand prior to the weekend in anticipation of trouble.

It is widely understood that Thaksin, despite his diminished fortune, remains one of the main financiers of the UDD, which needs an estimated 30 million baht (909,000 dollars) per 100,000 protestors to feed and transport them for the protests.

Many of the protestors have been paid about 1,000 baht to join the demonstrations and others have been promised debt relief if the protests lead to the return of a Thaksin-led government, sources from rural ares said.

The government has a 35,000-strong joint police and army force on hand in Bangkok this weekend with another 46,000 civilian volunteers available if things get hectic.

Hospitals have been put on alert and information centres set up in the city for potentially befuddled foreign tourists.

About 30 countries have issued travel warnings for Bangkok because of the protest.

Traffic has been bad in the areas where the protestors have gathered, but was better than usual elsewhere in the capital, as many Bangkokians chose to stay at home and off the streets.