Huge pro PM rally in Bangkok as protesters try to storm Govt House

Security guards of anti-government protesters links their hands as they march toward to Department of Special Investigation (DSI) in Bangkok November 30, 2013. (Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha)

Anti-government activists have attempted to force entry into the Government House in Bangkok, calling for the removal of the Prime Minister. Government supporters also turned out in their thousands in the Thai capital to “protect democracy.”

Protesters also attacked a bus near a pro-government rally, reported AFP. Bangkok has played host to the largest anti-government rallies since 2010 over the last six says with thousands of protesters calling for the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. 

"Dozens of anti-government protesters are attacking a bus with paving stones and other plastic chairs, there are people in the bus," said an AFP photographer at the scene. Reuters witnesses said that two people were badly beaten in the incident. 

Earlier in the day, pro-government demonstrators took to the streets of the Thai capital on Saturday to support democratically elected Prime Minister Yingluck.

Organizers of the rally said that around 13,000 people gathered in Bangkok’s Rajamangala stadium “to protect democracy” on Saturday. Supporters of the political group, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), flocked to Bangkok to defend the government elected by the majority of Thai people.

The ‘red coats’ chanted pro-government slogan and waved banners in solidarity with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Sompote Prasartthai, a co-leader of the UDD group in Nakhon Ratchasima province told the Bangkok Post that there would be no confrontations between the ‘red coats’ and anti-government activists. 

Thai pro-government supporters (Still from AP video)

Meanwhile, opposition leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, promised the “defeat of the Thaksin regime” to his followers on Friday night. Anti-government protesters have staged a number of rallies over the last six days with attempts to occupy various ministries which culminated in the storming of the Royal Thai Army headquarters on Friday - in a bid to win military support.

The opposition wants to remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and allege that her government is being controlled by self-exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Billionaire Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup, but still enjoys a lot of popularity in rural Thailand. 

The former leader was convicted with power abuse two years after he was removed from power. Tensions were newly ignited in Thailand after the government attempted to pass a controversial Amnesty Bill at the beginning of November. The legislation, which was kicked out by the Senate, would have allowed Thaksin to return to Thailand without serving a jail sentence for his crime. 

Thai pro-government supporters (Still from AP video)

Prime Minister Yingluck has offered to negotiate with the opposition and has introduced special powers, allowing curfews and road closures in response to the unrest. 

Suthep has refused to enter into dialogue with the Prime Minister and resolved to “demolish” her government and replace it with a “people’s council.”

"Our only goal is that there must be no Thaksin regime in Thailand anymore," protest leader Suthep said.
The main opponents of the current government are the middle classes who sharply disagree with the current government's authoritarian rule. Thailand’s middle class is comprised mainly of generals, aristocrats, big businessmen and royal advisers, embittered by the party's perceived disloyalty to the monarchy.