Soldiers Deployed for Third Anniversary of Thaksin Coup

[WannaGo]

Thailand to use harsh law for Thaksin coup rally

By Boonradom Chitradon (AFP)

BANGKOK — Thailand's cabinet agreed Tuesday to invoke a tough security law and deploy soldiers for protests this weekend marking the third anniversary of a coup against former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The move further raises tensions ahead of the planned rally on Saturday in Bangkok by tens of thousands of "Red Shirt" demonstrators, who want current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to quit and call fresh elections.

The Internal Security Act will be in force from Friday until Tuesday and effectively bans protesters from a central Bangkok district that is home to parliament and Government House, where the cabinet offices are located.

"The protest leaders have said it will be a huge rally to overthrow the government and even establish a new state, so the government is very concerned," Abhisit told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said that "police will be the core force with the military acting as assistants, but the number of forces depends on the situation," he said.

He said between 20,000 and 30,000 Red Shirts from around the country were expected to gather.

The protest comes a day before Abhisit is due to leave for the United States for the UN General Assembly and the G20 summit. Thaksin was toppled by the military in 2006 while he was away at the UN assembly.

The pro-Thaksin Red Shirts have twice called off previous rallies in recent weeks after the government invoked the act, but they vowed to go ahead with this weekend's demonstration.

"Unarmed and peaceful protest is guaranteed under the constitution. The government has no need to be afraid of this demonstration," Jatuporn Prompan, one of the movement's senior leaders, told AFP.

He said the rally would aim to put pressure on Prem Tinsulanonda, the chief advisor to Thailand's widely revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The Red Shirts accuse Prem of being behind the coup against Thaksin.

"At the rally we will point out how the coup has damaged our country and that General Prem was the real mastermind," he said.

Acting national police chief Thanee Somsboonsup said around 6,000 police would be deployed at "key strategic locations" including Government House and Prem's house on Saturday.

In April similar Red Shirt protests spiralled into riots which forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit and led to mass unrest in Bangkok, leaving two people dead and 123 injured.

The Red Shirts backed down on that occasion after troops threatened to use force, but they have recently reignited their campaign by lodging a petition with the king last week for a royal pardon for Thaksin.

Thaksin fled the country a year ago to escape a two-year jail term for corruption, but the divide between his largely rural supporters and his foes continues to cause turmoil in the kingdom.

The rival "Yellow Shirts", a royalist group with their support base in Bangkok's urban elite, helped topple the previous pro-Thaksin government by blockading Bangkok's airports in November-December last year.