| |
BANGKOK: About 17,000 "Red Shirt" supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra rallied in Bangkok Saturday to pressure the Thai government over their petition seeking a royal pardon for the fugitive former prime minister.
The number of protesters in the capital's historic quarter could eventually reach 20,000, said deputy national police spokesman Piya Utayo, adding the security situation so far was "normal".
Thailand has deployed 2,000 police officers and invoked a harsh internal security law to ensure the rally in front of the government offices does not turn violent after protests in April left two dead and 123 injured.
The demonstrators want the government to speed up the process of their petition, which they say at least 3.5 million signed in support of Thaksin, who fled the kingdom last August to escape a two-year jail term for corruption.
"'Red Shirt' people are rallying today to ask about the progress of our petition," protest leader Jatuporn Prompan told reporters, accusing the government of trying to delay their submission.
"We are here to send a signal to the government... We will come back by the end of the month. The protest will not end quickly."
The government has said that it would take at least two months to process the petition, which must be submitted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been in hospital for almost a month recovering from a lung infection and fever.
Rumours the revered monarch's health had deteriorated earlier this week sent the Thai stock market tumbling because he is considered the only unifying figure in a politically fragile nation, though the bourse rebounded Friday.
His youngest daughter Princess Chulabhorn also allayed concerns, saying at the Thai embassy in Germany late Friday that his condition is improving - the first public statement on the king's health from a royal since he was admitted.
Twice-elected billionaire Thaksin, who was due to address his followers by phone late Saturday, was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and the nation is still deeply divided between his supporters and his foes.
Thaksin's backers forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit in April and then rioted for two days in Bangkok before a crackdown by the army.
Rival royalist "Yellow Shirts" staged a crippling blockade of Bangkok's airports in late 2008, triggering the collapse of the previous, pro-Thaksin government and ushering current premier Abhisit Vejjajiva to power.
Thaksin still enjoys huge support among Thailand's poor, particularly in rural northern parts of the country, but is hated by the Bangkok-based elite in the palace, military and establishment.
His supporters have held several mass rallies in the capital. In August more than 30,000 Red Shirts gathered to deliver the petition, and last month at least 26,000 took to the streets to mark the third anniversary of the coup.
The former policeman is currently being tried in absentia on a separate corruption charge relating to 2.2 billion dollars of funds that were frozen by an anti-graft body soon after the coup.
Abhisit has said Thaksin, who has several passports and divides his time between a number of countries, must return to Thailand to face justice.
- AFP/yb
|
