BANGKOK, November 25. /ITAR-TASS /. Opposition forces in Thailand launched on Monday a large-scale anti-government march through the streets of Bangkok. Protesters intend to block the work of key government agencies and reportedly to “peacefully overthrow the government”.
The demonstrators are heading to 13 different places, mainly major governmental agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense, as well as TV broadcasters’ headquarters. The stagers of the action insist that their march is peaceful, but urge their supporters to disconnect and turn off the water supply of governmental buildings, which they intend to block.
On Sunday, according to Bangkok’s governor Sukhumbhand Paribatrat, over 400 thousand people gathered at the Democracy Monument in the historic part of the Thai capital, expressing their distrust to the government.
Rally participants oppose Thai government’s bonds with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The stagers of the march believe the former PM continues to rule the country behind the scenes, despite the fact that he was forced into exile and settled abroad. Shinawatra was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and later sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for abuse of office.
The Thai government is now headed by his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and an absolute majority in the parliament has the Pheu Thai Party that does not conceal its support for the Shinawatra family.
A new wave of protest in Thailand was reportedly triggered by the decision of the Constitutional Court taken last week to abolish the bill to reform the electoral system of the National Assembly of the country, passed with the support of the government and the ruling party. “If the government and parliament take decisions that are ruled illegal by the court, then they themselves are outside the law,” the rally’s participants chant.