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Udd "war Drum" Meeting Begins


waerth

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http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/396545/udd-war-drum-meeting-begins

 

The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has begun with its "war drum" meeting at the Liptapanlop Hall of the Chalerm Phra Kiat sports stadium in Muang district of Nakhon Ratchasima province.

The meeting was opened at 9.30am by UDD chairwoman Tida Thawornseth.

Other UDD core members who have arrived included Jatuporn Prompan, Nathawut Saikuar, Weng Tojirakarn and Yossawaris Chuklom.

The meeting is intended to UDD core members from across the country to discuss the current politcal situation and ways of safeguarding democracy and pushing for the completion of the election.

Leading UDD provincial leaders departed from their home provinces on Saturday and most have arrived at the meeting hall.

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Thai government supporters vow to 'deal with' Bangkok protesters

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/23/us-thailand-protest-idUSBREA1M02H20140223

 

(Reuters) - Supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised on Sunday to get tough with anti-government protesters paralyzing parts of Bangkok, raising tension in a protracted crisis hours after a deadly attack on a protest rally.

Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) vowed to "deal with" anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for a possible confrontation between pro- and anti-government groups.

"This fight will be harder than any other ... You must think how we can deal with Suthep and those supporting him," Jatuporn Prompan, a UDD leader and senior member of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told thousands of cheering supporters in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of the capital.

It was unclear whether Jatuporn was calling for an armed struggle, but he was speaking just hours after gunmen shot at an anti-government protest stage and threw explosive devices in the Khao Saming district of the eastern province of Trat, killing at least two people and wounding 41.

Anti-government protesters have blocked main Bangkok intersections for weeks with tents, tires and sandbags, seeking to unseat Yingluck and halt the influence of her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, an ousted former premier regarded by many as the real power behind the government.

The protests are the biggest since deadly political unrest in 2010, when Thaksin's "red shirt" supporters paralyzed Bangkok in an attempt to remove a government led by the Democrat Party, now the opposition.

More than 90 people were killed and 2,000 wounded when Suthep, at the time a deputy prime minister, sent in troops.

Presenting a further headache for Yingluck, Thailand's anti-corruption body filed charges against her last week over a rice subsidy scheme that has left hundreds of farmers, her natural backers, unpaid.

Yingluck is due to hear the charges on Thursday.

The UDD, largely made up of Thaksin supporters based in the populous north and northeast, was formed in 2008 as a counter-force to the yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy group.

The protests are the latest chapter in a political conflict that has gripped Thailand for eight years and broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and elite, and followers in the south, against rural backers of Yingluck and her brother.

UDD chairwoman Thida Tawornseth said Sunday's rally would consolidate plans to restore democracy after the opposition boycotted and disrupted elections this month, leaving the country under a caretaker government. On Saturday, she ruled out any plans for violence.

Four protesters and a police officer were killed on Tuesday when police attempted to reclaim protest sites near government buildings. Six people were wounded by a grenade on Friday.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has intervened in previous political standoffs but the 86-year-old monarch has not commented publicly on the current impasse.

Thaksin's enemies accuse him of republican aspirations, a charge he has frequently denied.

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<< Yingluck posted a message on her Facebook wall that she was sad that children were killed and she would like to extend her condolence to families of the injured and slain victims.

 

"I strongly condemn the use of violence in recent days that has caused many deaths both at Trat Province and especially at Rachaprasong today, which is particularly saddening and disturbing since the lives of children were lost," Yingluck said. >>

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Yingluck-condemns-violence-in-Trat-Ratchaprasong-30227591.html

 

Yingluck's government these days seems to be mainly on Facebook.

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It will be interesting to see how Mr Suthep and his comrades prevent the Red Shirts from arranging a similar blockade of the government of the People's Democratic Reformed Republic of Thailand.

 

(They might have to come up with a new name for the country. I was told by a tour guide at the palace some years ago that "Thai" meant "free", and we wouldn't want the proletariat to get silly ideas about freedom, would we?)

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You just can't get it. Thida, the communist, is on Thaksin's side. Suthep is anything but a communist.

 

Pity you don't speak Thai. You would have enjoyed the farmers from Ayutthaya on the protest stage last night, telling how Yinglkuck has done nothing she promised for them. After the floods 2 years ago, Yingluck promised aid when their rice fields were deep under water. They are still waiting for it. Now add the unpaid for rice crop on top of that, they are not very happy. They said almost none of the farmers in Ayutthaya are red shirts any more. They were asked to go to the gathering in Ayutthaya, but no one went. They said, "Our help came from Bangkok [the PDRC donations]. Why should we go to Khorat?"

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