An estimated 100,000 anti-government red-shirt protesters yesterday (April 8) began their latest campaign to oust the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, with a mass rally surrounding Thailand’s Government House and the nearby Royal Plaza.
Veera Musikapong, Jatuporn Prompan, Nattawut Saikua and Jakrapop Penkair, leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), a pro-Thaksin Shinawatra political pressure group aligned with the Pheu Thai Party (PTP), issued a bulletin titled 8 April: The Day for Fall of Aristocratic Polity.
The document calls for Mr Vejjajiva to resign the prime ministership and for Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda and Privy Councillors Surayud Chulanont and Chanchai Likhitjittha to also resign within 24 hours, or else the intensity of the protest will be ramped up.
Later in the day the protesters attempted to march to the house of Mr Prem, but were met by a strong police presence. Despite repeated surge attempts by the protestors, the police line held and protestors were kept away from the Privy Council President.
It is unknown if Mr Prem was in his residence at the time.
Bangkok red-shirt rally April 8, 2009 photo slide gallery
Photos John Le Fevre
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Bangkok red-shirt rally April 8, 2009: Government House besieged (gallery) added by John Le Fevre on
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He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.
He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.
In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.
Most recently he was the Thailand editor/ managing editor of AEC News Today . Prior to that he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.
In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.
Opinions and views expressed on this site are those of the author’s only. Read more at About me
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