"Red-shirts" in downtown Bangkok disperse

The activities in downtown Bangkok Sunday by the red-shirts, to mark the fouth anniversary of 2006 coup as well as the military dispersion of their rally fouth months ago, came to an end at about 6 p.m. after their leader called on them to disperse.

Thousands of people began to leave the Ratchaprasong area as Sombat Boonngamanong, one of the organisers of Sunday's activities, asked them to go back home.

Earlier the leader said the red-shirts will disperse by 8 p.m. local time.

Officially starting at afternoon, the red-shirted supporters of the anti-government movement the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), gathered at the Ratchaprasong area, chanting red-shirt songs, tying red-ribbons and lighting candles to memorize those who died during their rally in April and May.

According to Bangkok Post online, in the morning a group of red- shirts travelled to Pathum Wanaram temple near the Rachatprasong Intersection and placed red roses outside the pavilion, where six people, including both protestors and medical workers, were killed during the rally on the early morning of May 20, one day after the military dispersion of the rally.

Sombhat, 42, said there are two purposes for Sunday's activities: to mark the coup d'etat on September 16, 2006, which ousted the then Prime Minister Thaksin shinawatra, whom many believe the leader de facto of red-shirts; and to mark the military dispersion of the red-shirts rally on May 19, which, along with a series of conflicts between protestors and security forces during the rally, left 91 killed and nearly 1,900 injured.

The authorities have deployed 3,000 police for Sunday, with about 1,800 at Ratchaprasong and another 1,200 manning over 100 check points in and around bangkok.

Source: Xinhua