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'Red Shirts' rally in Bangkok
Agence France Presse - October 10, 2010
Bangkok – About 2,500 "Red Shirt" protesters rallied in Bangkok Sunday to mark six months since a night of bloody clashes with the army, which left 25 people dead, during their two-month-long street protests.
Anti-government Red Shirts began with a Buddhist making-merit ceremony near the capital's Lumpini Park, before leaving to join fellow demonstrators near Democracy Monument, the main site of violence on April 10.
Police said about 2,500 had joined the rally by mid-afternoon and more than 1,000 police were on hand to ensure security in the city, which has been rattled by a series of explosions since the protests ended in May.
Members of the group, dressed in their trademark red attire and carrying banners and flags, lay roses, flowers and pictures of those who died in the violence by the monument, where they were due to light candles before dispersing.
The Reds, mostly supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a 2006 coup, took to the streets in mid-March demanding snap polls to replace the current government, which they say is undemocratic and elitist.
April 10 saw the first fatalities of the rally as troops attempted in vain to clear them from Bangkok's historic district.
The ensuing clashes were Thailand's worst political violence in almost two decades, killing 25 and wounding more than 800.
An army crackdown over a month later, on May 19, finally brought to an end the weeks of protests, during which clashes with the authorities ultimately left 91 people dead.
About 6,000 Reds, who are mainly poor and working class, gathered in Bangkok last month to mark four years since the coup that ousted Thaksin, and to commemorate those slain in the May crackdown.
The capital and three other provinces remain under emergency rule, which was introduced in early April in response to the mass anti-government rallies that peaked at 100,000 people.
Just hours after the decree was extended on Tuesday, four people were killed by a deadly blast at an apartment complex near Bangkok, which police said was a probably a bomb accidentally detonated while it was being assembled.
The government, which has stepped up security following a string of other minor blasts in Bangkok, was quick to blame the Red Shirts for the explosion.
The Reds deny any involvement in the unrest and have accused the authorities of a plot to justify tougher security powers.
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