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Source: ONE News
Thailand's anti-government "red shirts" on Wednesday announced plans to hold a mass rally in Bangkok from March 12 in a bid to force the dissolution of parliament and new elections.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), which backs ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will rally in the capital for at least one week in what would be their first lengthy demonstration since violent protests last April.
"We will gather for a mass protest on March 12," Veera Musikapong, one of the UDD's leaders, told reporters.
The group has vowed to bring a million, mostly rural Thais to the capital to topple the government within seven days, although analysts have doubts both about the likely numbers and the timeframe.
The UDD says Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's six-party coalition government is illegitimate because it was not elected by the people but put together by the army in a "silent coup" after a pro-Thaksin ruling party was dissolved.
Security forces are braced for a big turnout and a possible violent response to a verdict due on Friday on whether to seize $2.3 billion of assets belonging to the family of Thaksin, whose popularity among the rural masses gave him an unprecedented two terms in office before his removal in a 2006 coup.
UDD protests have added to the pressure on a shaky coalition already in disarray, while political uncertainty has unsettled investors and weighed on the stock market .
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