Red and yellow shirts ready to rumble
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Phuket reds, yellows ready to roll
PHUKET: Phuket’s yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD)
supporters and their red-shirted opponents, the United Front for
Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), will both be traveling to large
gatherings in the near future.
The Phuket PAD will be heading to Bangkok to protest former Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s appointment to a high-level advisory
position by Cambodian premier Hun Sen.
The protest will take place at Sanam Luang on Sunday.
Phuket PAD co-ordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn said the island’s
activists would definitely be attending the Bangkok protest.
“PAD representatives from 16 southern provinces will meet on Thursday
to discuss where we will leave from, how many people will go and how
we are going to get there. Then we will make an official
announcement,” she said.
“I’ve already had a lot of calls about this, so I think a lot of
people are going to go,” she said.
Ms Aparat said the protest wouldn’t be restricted to people in yellow
shirts, however.
“Anyone in any color shirt who agrees with us can join the protest,”
she said.
Meanwhile, Phuket UDD leader Sunthorn Toemarn applauded Mr Thaksin’s
new appointment in Cambodia.
“It’s right and democratic,” she said. “It’s a good thing and we agree
with it.”
The UDD would be heading to Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon
Ratchasima province for a big meeting – including a phone in from Mr
Thaksin. The rally will be hosted by the Bonanza Khao Yai Hotel on
Saturday, he said.
Around a hundred red-shirts would be heading to the gathering in cars
and vans, he said.
“But let’s wait and see if the government uses an emergency decree or
not. They use the decree against the red shirts every time we have a
meeting,” he said.
The government declared a state of emergency back in April, when riots
by red-shirted UDD members turned parts of Bangkok into an urban
battleground.
The decree banned gatherings of more than five people, stopped news
reports deemed threatening to public order and allowed the government
to use the army to end
unrest.
– Atchaa Khamlo