About 200 anti-government
protesters - many wearing white masks - converge on the Tesco-Lotus
North Pattaya branch. The group’s Facebook page says it represents
“people power” urging peaceful opposition to “parliamentary monopoly and
corruption.”
Theerarak Suthathiwong
About 200 anti-government protesters - many wearing
white masks - converged on Tesco-Lotus’ North Pattaya branch, mirroring
a larger rally in Bangkok that opened a new chapter in the kingdom’s
long-running saga of political unrest.
The demonstration by the “V for Thailand” movement - an enigmatic
protest group spawned over social media whose supporters wear the “Guy
Fawkes” mask of comic book hero “V” - was the first in Pattaya and
fourth this month in Bangkok.
Former Democratic Party Chonburi MP Potnarot Kaewpluk led the local
rally against the ruling Pheu Thai Party and Thaksin Shinawatra. The
party’s ties to the deposed prime minister and the Pheu Thai-aligned
“red shirts,” or United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, drew
scorn from the stage.
Some red shirted
followers of the UDD wore their own masks, whilst others shouted down
the “V for Thailand” across the street.
The red shirts, led by Pattaya-area leader Jureeporn
Sinthuphrai, counted the white-mask rally, assembling 500 protestors
from Chonburi and Bangkok to shout down their white-masked counterparts
with loudspeakers mounted on cars.
A garrison of 500 Region 2, Banglamung and Pattaya police and volunteers
kept the peace. No serious incidents were reported. Jureeporn said she
demanded that the red shirts - responsible for deadly Bangkok riots in
2010 and 2011 - remain peaceful.
Potnarok said she attended the rally not as an anonymous, masked
protestor, but as “a patriot and a democrat” who wanted to express her
resistance toward a political system masterminded by Thaksin - the
brother of current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra - and said the V
protestors would assemble at the mall at 6 p.m. daily.
While the “yellow shirt” movement, backed by
Thailand’s elite and military establishment, has formed the
most-prominent opposition to Pheu Thai, several other protest groups
have sprung up in recent months protesting against the government of
Yingluck and the influence of her brother, who is seeking a return to
the kingdom but faces jail over corruption.
Little is known about the leaders or political allegiances of V for
Thailand, but the group has swiftly developed a major social-media
profile. The group’s Facebook page says it represents “people power”
urging peaceful opposition to “parliamentary monopoly and corruption.”
In a film version of the comic strip called ‘V for Vendetta’, white
masks are distributed to encourage people to rise against a fictional
dictator.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
