Thousands of Red Shirts rally in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Jan 23 —  Ratchadamnoen Road closed to traffic in a historic part of the capital late Sunday as the anti-government Red Shirts demonstrate at Democracy Monument in a mass gathering set to end at midnight.

Thousands of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) activists have occupied the roadway from Phan Fah Bridge to Sanam Luang ceremonial ground. As the main rally stage has been erected at the monument itself, small assembly points were scattered throughout the area, and police were deployed to provide security and maintain order.

The demonstrators lit red candles in commemoration of the Red Shirt protesters killed during the street violence in April and May during the mass protest.

Red leader and Opposition MP Jatuporn Prompan said the Red Shirts will change their strategy and protest only once a month in the future to avoid making trouble for the public.

The group also plans to hold a special protest at Khao Yai or the Rajamangala National Stadium. However, while the venue has not yet been finalised, their ideology will be the same in demanding the release of jailed Red Shirts on terrorism charges and the reinstatement of the 1997 Constitution.

He also said that during tonight’s protest of the Red Shirts, supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, there will be no telephone address from the self-exiled former prime minister.

Mr Thaksin lives abroad, having been sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for conflict of interest in a case focused on his then wife’s purchase of land from a government agency in a prime Bangkok commercial area at a price discounted significantly below the market price. (MCOT online news)