Word: thaksin
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...Thailand, people literally wear their politics on their sleeves. The nation has been locked for years in a paralyzing political showdown between two camps. There are the red shirts, who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and later convicted in absentia of abuse of power. And there are the establishment yellow shirts, who back current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. On March 12, around 100,000 red shirts, whose numbers are drawn largely from Thailand's poor rural regions, began descending on Bangkok by bus, truck, boat and tractor for what they deemed...
...Many of the protesters are from the poor rural areas of north and northeastern Thailand and are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and now lives in self-imposed exile rather than serve a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction. The protesters, who have numbered over 100,000 at their peak, have occupied the main road in the old quarter of Bangkok for four days in an attempt to pressure Abhisit to resign. By Tuesday morning, their numbers had thinned to no more than 20,000, as many needed...
...protesters comprise mainly rural poor who seek the return of Thaksin Shinawatra, a former Prime Minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. Thaksin has been living in self-imposed exile rather than serve a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction. In late February, the Supreme Court confiscated $1.5 billion of his assets, ruling that he had gained them through abuse of power while Prime Minister...
...Thaksin remains popular with the rural poor, who regard him as the only Prime Minister who addressed their problems. His universal health care and microcredit programs were labeled as progressive by supporters and populist vote-buying by detractors. But the protesters, operating under the name the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), and called the red shirts for their garb and flags, also contain groups who oppose military intervention in politics, some members of the business élite who benefited under Thaksin's rule and some republicans who want an end to Thailand's constitutional monarchy. (Read...
...Abhisit's Democrat Party came to power in December 2008 after a court dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party for electoral fraud, and some lawmakers formerly loyal to Thaksin defected and formed an alliance with the Democrats. Military leaders reportedly played a role in inducing the defection, and that scenario has Thaksin supporters characterizing the government as "unelected." Abhisit and security officials were monitoring the protests from an Army base in Bangkok, which the protesters have said they will surround if he does not resign...