Large anti-government protest in Bangkok

Bangkok, Tens of thousands of supporters of coup-ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra rallied here today, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the top advisor to Thailand’s revered King.

Waving red coloured, foot-shaped clappers, the protestors, wearing red shirts, under the banner of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), surrounded the official residence of the influential Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda whom Mr Shinawatra accuses of having masterminded the September 2006 coup d’etat that toppled him.

An estimated 60,000 UDD members from across the country had gathered by mid-day in the heart of the Thai capital’s government zone, announcing they would remain there till the government quits.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister announced that the Southeast Asian nations summit scheduled from April 10-12 in the nearby resort town of Pattaya would go ahead despite a physical assault by UDD cadres on his motorcade there yesterday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders are scheduled to meet their counterparts from India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand during the ASEAN Plus One Summits, the ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the East Asia Summit.

Thousands of red-clad anti-government protestors have been besieging the Prime Minister’s Office for the past fortnight and listening to live video messages and phone calls from Mr Shinawatra from abroad every night.

The ousted leader has upped the stakes in his confrontation with what he calls the aristocratic-elite establishment which he accuses of toppling him because he was working to empower the rural poor.

Mr Shinawatra has fired up UDD passions by directly naming the Privy Council chief of instigating the 2006 coup and calling on Thai people to topple the old order to bring about a historic change for their children’s future.