September 6, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai anti-government protesters Friday again postponed plans for a mass rally, pushing the date back to the third anniversary of the coup that toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The so-called "Red Shirt" movement said it had decided to defer a protest planned for Saturday until September 19, due to the government's continued invocation of a harsh internal security act.
The protesters want current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call elections but they had already shelved plans to gather in the heart of Bangkok last Sunday.
"We have decided to cancel this Saturday's rally but we will gather on September 19 to commemorate the third coup anniversary, despite the internal security act," movement leader Veera Musikapong told reporters.
"The coup damaged Thailand's reputation and dignity," he said.
He said protesters would gather outside the house of Prem Tinsulanonda, the top adviser to Thailand's widely revered king, because Prem was believed to be the mastermind of the 2006 putsch.
Veera did not say how many protesters were expected, but previous rallies, including one last month to hand in a petition seeking a royal pardon for Thaksin, have drawn tens of thousands.
The army removed billionaire populist Thaksin from power after months of protests by the royalist "Yellow Shirt" movement. He is currently living abroad to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption.
His ouster sparked another three years of of turmoil, with "Yellow Shirts" occupying Bangkok's airports last December to drive out the previous pro-Thaksin government and help bring Abhisit to power.
The Red Shirts then went on the rampage in April this year, disrupting a major Asian summit and rampaging through Bangkok before they backed down amid threats of a military crackdown.
Twice-elected 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.
