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 Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban is demanding political and
electoral reforms before any vote is held and wants these to be
overseen by a "people's council" that his movement will help
nominate rather than by Yingluck, who is caretaker prime minister
until the election, set for Feb. 2.
Thailand's National Security Council said only 6,500 people gathered
at the busy Asoke intersection in central Bangkok at around mid-day,
although office workers and others lined the route of the march to
voice support.
A separate group of about 1,000 student-led protesters marched to
the U.S. embassy. The United States has annoyed the protesters by
calling for the democratic process to be respected, effectively
endorsing the holding of an election.
Nititorn Lamlua, a protest leader, said U.S. Ambassador Kristie
Kenney ought to be transferred.
"If she needs to leave the embassy, she'll have to go by helicopter
because she has badmouthed the protesters," he said.
On Dec. 9, when Yingluck called the election, about 160,000
protesters had massed around her office complex, and before that
some had occupied ministries and other state buildings, but police
say no more than 2,000 people are now camped out at the main protest
sites in Bangkok's historic quarter.
Demonstrators on Thursday held banners saying "We are
anti-corruption" and "No elections before reform".
One sign read: "We will not accept Square Face", a nickname given to
former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother and the
figure at the centre of Thailand's eight-year, on-off political
crisis.
Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, is adored by the rural
poor because of cheap healthcare and other policies brought in while
he was in power, but he was toppled by the military in 2006 and now
lives in self-exile.
Yingluck won a landslide victory in 2011 and her Puea Thai Party is
well placed to win the next election because of Thaksin's enduring
support in the populous north and northeast.
Ranged against them are a royalist establishment that feels
threatened by Thaksin's rise and a middle class that resents what it
sees as its taxes being spent on wasteful populist policies that
amount to vote-buying.
Thaksin fled in 2008 before being sentenced to jail for abuse of
power in a trial he says was politically motivated.
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Suthep's movement gained impetus in early November after Yingluck's
government tried to push through a political amnesty bill that would
have allowed Thaksin to return home a free man.
RALLY ON SUNDAY
After failing to get the politically influential military on his
side, Suthep is trying to re-energies his supporters with marches
this week and a rally on Sunday.
A court has issued an arrest warrant for Suthep on a charge of
insurrection but police have done nothing to apprehend him, despite
his appearance at a military seminar and other events.
On Wednesday the Department of Special Investigation, Thailand's
equivalent of the U.S. FBI, said it would ask banks to freeze the
accounts of 18 rally leaders, including Suthep, to investigate what
it called suspicious transactions.
Suthep says he wants to wipe out electoral fraud, eradicate
corruption and reform state agencies including the police.
Even if the vote goes ahead on Feb. 2, its legitimacy could be
undermined if the main opposition Democrat Party does not take part.
At a conference this week, members could not agree whether to run in
the election or back the protests.
Democrat lawmakers resigned from parliament this month to march with
Suthep, who was a deputy prime minister in a Democrat-led government
until 2011.
Some agree with his call for reforms to be implemented before
another election is held, but others believe their party, Thailand's
oldest, should respect the democratic process and run for office. A
decision is expected on Saturday.
(Writing by Alan Raybould; editing by Robert Birsel)
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