Pattaya-area nationalists are among the thousands taking part in the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy rally in Bangkok.
A convoy of minibuses left Sawang Boriboon Foundation headquarters in Naklua Tuesday bound for Makawan Rangsan Bridge where PAD and its militant arm, the Patriots Network, are demanding the government take a sterner stance with Cambodia on border issues.
With the memories of last year’s deadly “red shirt” Bangkok rallies – as well as the PAD’s 1998 takeover of Bangkok’s international airports – still fresh in people’s minds, the government want the nationalist zealots to end their illegal demonstration.
The yellow shirts want the government to expel Cambodians from disputed border areas in retaliation for the arrest of seven Thais by Cambodian forces.
The National Intelligence Bureau claims such moves would be destructive to national security and believe the PAD ultimately wants to pressure the ruling Democrat Party into dissolving Parliament, much as the red shirts demanded.
