BANGKOK : Thousands of Thai pro-government "Red Shirts" massed Saturday in a show of support for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, warning that they would resist attempts to oust her through the courts.
More than 3,000 police and troops have been mobilised for the rally on the western outskirts of Bangkok, following months of political violence in which 24 people were killed and hundreds wounded. Thailand has been rocked by years of sometimes bloody street protests by supporters and opponents of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's elder brother. Supporters of the movement arrived in buses and trucks for what Red Shirt leaders hoped will be their biggest show of strength in the months-long crisis. "I want to see justice. I want the country to have democracy," said Keatisak Thaweerit, 46, who hails from northeast Thailand.
"We are here to use the voices of the majority of the people in the country." The authorities expected up to 200,000 Red Shirts to join the two-day rally, Paradorn Pattanatabut, a security adviser to the premier, told AFP.
But about two hours after the official start, the turnout was still only several thousands of people, according to an AFP reporter at the site. Paradorn said the authorities did not expect any clashes with rival anti-government protesters who have been holding daily rallies at a park in the city centre, far from the site of the Red Shirt rallies. "What we are concerned by is third parties," he said, alluding to unidentified assailants who have launched a series of gun and grenade attacks around the capital in recent months, often targeting opposition protesters.