Red wave set to swamp Bangkok BANGKOK: -- Impoverished northern Thailand will erupt if Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is deposed by the courts or military. They plan to call the uprising from a dingy 11th floor apartment above Chiang Mai, northern Thailands capital. Be prepared. When the time comes I will call you out on to the streets, radio host Mahawan Kawang exhorts his 50,000 listeners. We must be ready to defend our prime minister and our countrys democracy. Mahawans 105.5FM is one of 2000 community radio stations across northern Thailand that has a pact to call out their millions of listeners if Thailands embattled prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is toppled in what pro-government red shirt supporters claim is an unannounced coup underway 700 kilometres away inBangkok. Dont be afraid. In Bangkok they look down on people from the north and say we are uneducated but we must show them that democracy is for everyone … our vote gives us the same rights as their vote, says Mahawan, a popular celebrity with amasters degree who is known as DJ Nok. A few kilometres away, former police senior sergeant Pichit Tamoon sips coffee outside the red-painted headquarters of the citys red taxis and reveals plans for the mobilisation of 500,000 pro-government red shirt supporters who until now have largely remained quiet as anti-government protests have crippled Yinglucks government and shut down parts of Bangkok in the lead-up to Sundays national elections, which authorities fear could turn violent. Pichit, the red shirt co-ordinator for 17 vote-rich provinces, paints a disturbing scenario that would see northern Thailands political separation from Bangkok and southern provinces and almost certainly stoke further violence in the country of 64 million people. Mahawan Kawang says the supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra are prepared to take to the streets again. We will not be the ones who will start the war, but if a coup happens we will announce that we will fight, Pichit says. Our groups have met and we have developed a plan to defend against an elite group that is bent on destroying our democratic system.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 01:35:54 +0000