Red shirts get ready for new protest wave

While the Red Shirts, who support fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, have vowed to keep their protest peaceful, authorities have mobilised 50,000 security officers and set up checkpoints around the capital. Demonstrators started meeting around the country yesterday, including at several locations in the capital, where they plan to converge in a mass rally tomorrow. The group includes followers of Mr Thaksin and other people who oppose the 2006 military coup that toppled him. They say that Mr Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional Thai ruling class who were fearful of Mr Thaksin’s popularity among the rural poor while in office in 2001-2006. Several schools closed in Bangkok and foreigners were advised to stay away from the protests as Thailand braced for violence.