Thai Red-shirt threatens to rally if parliament discuss amnesty

The anti-government "Red-shirts" will stage a protest if the amnesty bill is on parliamentary agenda, a core leader of the group told a press conference Friday.

The core leader Jatuporn Prompan said the amnesty bill proposed by coalition Bhumjaithai Party would not benefit the "Red-shirts" as they did not do anything wrong to be granted amnesty. Moreover, the bill actually benefits the government who ordered the crackdown, which caused 91 deaths during the demonstration from March to May this year.

"The bill in fact helps the killers, not us," Jatuporn said.

He also urged "Red-shirts" supporters to gather in front of the Parliament House and Ratchaprasong Intersection as soon as the amnesty bill is put on parliamentary agenda.

"We will try every way to oppose the bill even if we have to stage a demonstration at the Ratchaprasong Intersection again," said the core leader.

The rival of the "Red-shirts", People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), or "Yellow-shirts", also opposes the amnesty issue as well. But Jatuporn said although they both have the same stance, the " Red-shirts" will not join hands with the "Yellow-shirts" in opposing the bill.

Bhumjaithai Party is now campaigning for the public to support amnesty bill, which it claimed was for the sake of national reconciliation. The party on Thursday began gathering signatures in support of a petition for amnesty.

The party claimed that the amnesty will cover both "Red-shirts" protesters and "Yellow-shirts" protesters, but those core leaders and those who incited violence are not on the list.

After the military coup de tat that ousted then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006, Thailand has gone through three major protests, once by the "Yellow-shirts" and twice by the "Red-shirts ".

After the latest chronic protest by the "Red-shirts" at Ratchaprasong intersection, a Bangkok shopping area, from mid- March to May 19 this year, killing 91 people and injuring nearly 2, 000, national reconciliation has became the nation's major agenda as many political groups proposed various ways, including amnesty and a national government, to achieve the goal.

Source: Xinhua