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Thai protesters ready for fresh mass rally |
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(03/31/2010)
Bangkok, PAB-Online
Thai Red Shirt protesters geared up on Wednesday for another weekend of
mass rallies, ignoring Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's offer of a
third round of talks to negotiate early elections.
The red-clad champions of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra have refused the prime minister's compromise to hold a vote in nine months, insisting that Abhisit dissolve the lower house within 15 days.
Red Shirt leaders said that Saturday's gathering would be their biggest since their rally began with more than 100,000 protesters on March 14, after the country's top court seized most of Thaksin's fortune.
Thaksin lives abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a jail term for graft.
"All Red Shirts across the country are ready to return to fight on, as our goal has not yet been achieved," Reds' leader Jatuporn Prompan told reporters.
"Having a third round of negotiations on April 1 is not valid.... Further talks will only happen if the government changes its position. If it insists on nine months for elections there will be no talks," he added.
The Reds have said they will not make a firm plan for the rally until Saturday. They have staged a series of dramatic stunts to press their demand in recent weeks, including throwing their own blood at Abhisit's offices.
Abhisit is currently travelling in Bahrain, where he used a media conference on Tuesday to repeat his offer of further talks with Red Shirts. His offer to hold elections in nine months would be a year ahead of schedule.
The Red Shirts love the populist Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, and despise Abhisit, whom they accuse of being elitist and in the pocket of the country's powerful military establishment.
Stemming mostly from the rural poor, the Reds say Abhisit's government is undemocratic because it came to power through a parliamentary vote after a court ruling removed Thaksin's allies from power.
The government has extended for one week a strict security law that places the military in charge of security in Bangkok.
While the demonstrations have been peaceful, a series of small explosions have hit politically significant sites and army buildings, injuring more than a dozen people in the last five days.(AFP/IP)
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