Red Shirt Rally, June 27, Bangkok
United front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader Jatuporn Promphan claimed on Tuesday he had new evidence proving a red-shirt protester was killed at the Ministry of the Interior during the Songkran riots.
Mr Jatuporn, a Puea Thai MP, said a well wisher had given a picture showing state authorities dragging away the dead body of a demonstrator in a red shirt to Suporn Atthawong, another UDD leader.
Mr Jatuporn said he would show the picture at a gathering of red-shirt people at Sanam Luang on June 27.
He said there would be four gatherings of UDD supporters - at Sanam Luang, Victory Monument, army headquarters and Government House.
No decision had been made on whether to prolong the demonstrations, he said.
KC: The June 27 rally is a real test for the Red Shirts and will hopefully answer some burning questions about the movement. For example, it will be interesting to see how many protesters turn up for these demonstrations, the largest planned since the Songkran riots, in order to ascertain how potent the Red Shirts are post-Songkran. Moreover, how much emphasis will Red Shirt leaders give to Thaksin Shinawatra in the context of on-going debates regarding the reduced significance of Thaksin to the movement’s cause(s)? Undoubtedly, Thaksin will still feature prominently, but will his role be played-down and will the Red Shirts leaders’ rhetoric regarding the nature of the movement and its links to Thaksin change? Furthermore, will we see enhanced roles for figures ‘untainted’ by the Songkran events? Held at multiple sites, including the symbolic Victory Monument and the army headquarters, the protests will offer a renewed insight into both the internal dynamics of this complex and ever-evolving movement, its popularity, support-base and leadership and the strategies of the Abhisit administration towards the Red Shirts.
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