New round in fight begins, red rally told
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SOME 5,000 red shirts thunderously booed the Constitutional Court from Rajamangala Sports Stadium yesterday, as the judges ruled government-backed legislation to amend charter provisions on the selection of senate members to be unconstitutional.
While the crowd was relieved that the Pheu Thai Party was not dissolved, their feelings were tinged with anger and frustration, with one of their co-leaders, Nuttawut Saikuar, declaring that a new round had just begun.
Nuttawut said it was a face-off between “democratic forces and forces outside the [democratic] system”. He called on red shirts nationwide to descend on Bangkok to fight, as they were ready to announce new measures to protect the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
“Perhaps we should take the opportunity to launch a people’s revolution before they do,” he said, referring to the Democrat Party-led protest camped on the other side of the city, at Democracy Monument, which appears to have a bigger crowd.
Pheu Thai party-list MP and red-shirt co-leader Weng Tojirakarn echoed Nuttawut even before the verdict was read, when he said perhaps reds should “wipe out reactionary forces from Thai soil”.
Sitting among fellow red shirts in the less-than-half-full stadium, 66-year-old Banpot Thepboonchan from Pathum Thani province said he felt cheated listening to the verdict, which was broadcast live to the stadium.
Outside the stadium, many kitchens were set up, a sign of readiness for a prolonged fight. An underground band played anti-monarchist songs just a few metres away from the stadium itself. The singer used a microphone, calling the Constitution Court a “robber court” and urging listeners to purge it.
