Red shirts, activists mark Sept. 2006 coup against Thaksin govt

RED SHIRT followers and Thalu Fah activists held separate events to mark the Sept. 19, 2006 coup against the elected government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra amid heavy police presence, Matichon newspaper said this evening.

The red shirts gathered at the Democracy Monument with their activity entitled “Red shirts against dictatorship.”

Meanwhile Thalu Fah followers gathered at the October 14 Memorial at Khok Wua intersection and their activity was entitled “‘Dictatorship rules the city’ 16th anniversary of the coup.”

Uniformed policemen set up a checkpoint at Tanao Intersection heading for Democracy Monument with there being around 10 pickup trucks and vans from various police stations parked there.

At 6 p.m. today Thalu Fah activists hung up banners stating “16th anniversary of the coup” in Thai and English outside the October 14 Memorial. Participants, mostly the new generation, steadily flocked in.

Within the memorial a banner was displayed with a quote from deceased taxi driver Nuamthong Praiwan that says, “Born again in the next life will probably not run into revolution”, emblazoned on it.

Nuamthong was the one who slammed his taxi at a tank in protest over the coup. He was later found hanged from a pedestrian footbridge. Officials found a suicide note and later ruled his death a suicide. His sacrifices were praised by several democracy activists.

At the centre of the courtyard was placed a framed photo of the 1997 constitution and a model of a tank hit by a taxi. Next to it was a black T-shirt with a line from a poem printed on it similar to the one Nuamthong wore the day he died.

At 6.20 p.m. Mr. Thanaphat Kapheng, or Pun Thalu Fah, read a poem entitled, “Letter to the Sky.”

CAPTION:

Red shirts and Thalu Fah activists mark Sept. 19. 2006 coup against the elected government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra today at Democracy Monument and October 14 Memorial. Photos: Matichon