Red shirts turn out in large numbers to receive Apiwan's body

Members of the crowd, dressed in black, included many key red-shirt leaders such as Weng Tojirakarn, Thida Thavornseth, Nuttawut Saikuar and Jatuporn Promphan.

They waited in front of the free zone in the airport terminal as hundreds of police and soldiers guarded all entrances. Police frequently warned the crowd not to express anything political in nature.

Thai Airways International flight TG621 from Manila arrived with the body at 3.20pm. 

Jatuporn said he told national police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang that the gathering was non-political and the latter agreed to facilitate traffic management for the reception and transport of the body from the airport.

He said the gathering was not a symbol of any political agenda but an act of mourning and the situation would return to normal at the end of the funeral ceremony next Sunday.

The body of the former Parliament deputy speaker will be brought to the Bang Pai temple in Nonthaburi for the funeral ceremony, which starts today.

Colonel Apiwan, a former deputy House speaker, died on Monday at age 65 from a lung infection. An outspoken supporter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the UDD movement, he fled Thailand after the military coup on May 22. 

Jatuporn said that many red-shirt supporters were likely to attend the funeral rites for Apiwan, as he had fought side by side with them. He said the gathering would proceed smoothly. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon warned last week that the funeral rites for the former Pheu Thai MP must be kept free of politics so that family and friends could pay their respects properly. 

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was expected to attend today, Jatuporn said.