Rally shows that "red-shirts", Thaksin share different goals
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The latest "red-shirts" rally last Sunday has proved that the group is eying a different agenda from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinnawatra, a political analyst said Thursday.
SYMBOLIC, NON-VIOLENT RALLY
Until now, the rally at Ratchaprasong intersection downtown Bangkok is a symbolic one that the reds want to show that they are still alive after the crackdown in April and May, Siriphan Noksuan, a political scientist at Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University said in an interview with Xinhua.
Thousands of "red-shirts" formally named the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship on Sunday gathered to mark the 2006 coup that overthrew Thaksin administration and the May 19 military operation that dispersed the protesters who occupied Bangkok's main shopping and tourism center for months.
"They (reds) want to portrait themselves as non-violent, because during previous rallies, even though they claim that they try to protest peacefully, but unfortunately the rallies end with violence and lots of deaths, " Siriphan said. "This time, they try to show the public that they can protest without violence."
"This marks a new generation of movement," she said.
The difference between Sunday's rally and previous ones is that the leader of this rally is a new generation of the "red-shirts" or it is called a protest without leaders, the lecture said.
Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, coordinator of the rally also "Red Sunday" group, has no direct connection with the opposition Puea Thai Party and he claimed that he is not the loyal supporter of Thaksin and the way they organize is kind of spontaneous, Siriphan said.
"I think they communicate through facebook and internet," she said. "So this time, it is kind of voluntary spontaneous protest."
And the supporters of this rally came from mid-class or lower class in Bangkok, not many from other provinces as on the same day there are several rallies in provinces like Chiangmai and Udon Thani, the stronghold of the reds, Siriphan said.
REDS, THAKSIN SHARE DIFFERENT GOALS
The "red-shirts" have different political agenda with Thaksin, who only fights for forgiveness, even one of the aims of its rally is to mark the coup that ousted the former prime minister, the analyst said.
"The reds have proved that they share some ideology that tells the public that what they are asking for is democracy, is their rights to participate and not to protect Mr.Thaksin any more, " Siriphan said.
