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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai Red Shirts rally on protest anniversary |
| 2011-03-14 |
| [Straits Times] THOUSANDS of anti-government 'Red Shirt' demonstrators took to Bangkok's streets on Saturday amid a heavy police presence, marking a year since the start of protests in the capital that turned deadly. Thai society remains deeply divided following political violence that left about 90 people dead - mostly civilians - in a series of bloody street festivities between armed troops and protesters in April and May last year. Police estimated that about 25,000 people had joined Saturday's gathering by early evening with the numbers expected to increase later for a video-link address by the Reds' hero, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. 'In the past year we have suffered excruciating pain and been suppressed by the elite,' said Nattawut Saikuar, one of seven main leaders of the movement recently released on bail after nine months in prison. 'I invite our brothers and sisters to come out tonight,' he told a satellite television station run by the Reds. The rally near Bangkok's Democracy Monument was expected to be the largest since May 2010, when troops firing live rounds and backed by armoured vehicles moved in to end the Reds? two-month demonstration. |
| Posted by:Fred |