20 March 2010 / AP, BANGKOK
Protesters in Thailand announced a full weekend of anti-government activities starting with a massive procession through Bangkok followed by “blood painting,” their latest shock tactic aimed at forcing new elections.
Thousands of Red Shirt protesters remained camped on Friday in the historic heart of the capital, which will be the starting point of today’s march that will loop the capital and wind through Bangkok’s central business district. “It will be a massive caravan,” said Jatuporn Prompan, a leader from the movement formally known as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. “Protesters will travel around Bangkok on thousands of vehicles.” The protesters want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections -- a demand he has repeatedly rejected. Abhisit has been sleeping and working from an army base for the past week to avoid demonstrators. Protest leaders have increasingly portrayed the demonstrations that started last Sunday as a struggle between Thailand’s impoverished, mainly rural masses and a Bangkok-based elite impervious to their plight. The group largely consists of supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption, and pro-democracy activists who opposed the army takeover.
