Anti-amnesty protesters are throwing their support behind a Democrat Party campaign to oust all 310 MPs who backed the now-moribund bill.
People flock to Ratchadamnoen Avenue on Saturday to put their names to a petition to drive from office all the MPs who voted for the amnesty bill. (Photo by Thanarak Khoonton)
Several thousand people stopped at a tent near the Panfah Bridge on Ratchadamnoen Avenue on Saturday to sign the impeachment petition before heading to Democracy Monument for the rally.
The impeachment drive is part of the new offensive announced by Suthep Thaugsuban on Friday night to "uproot the Thaksin regime", as the opposition party's mission has gone beyond killing the controversial amnesty bill.
A student group and the Business Club for Democracy launched their own campaigns on Friday to remove the MPs from the House of Representatives.
The constitution requires at least 20,000 signatures for impeachment, with the Senate in charge of deciding whether to accept and act on such petitions.
All 310 MPs of the governing Pheu Thai Party and its coalition partners voted for the bill in the second and third readings in a 19-hour session that ended at 4.25am on Nov 1. Four Pheu Thai MPs abstained.
The Democrats had walked out of the chamber earlier in protest against the bill, which they said would whitewash fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto leader of Pheu Thai.
The vote touched off public protests that grew in strength and volume until Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra sent a signal to senators to kill the bill, which they did unanimously.
However, the law requires the bill to be returned to the Lower House and MPs could reconsider it 180 days after the Senate vote, though few believe they would dare.
Mr Suthep, who has resigned from his parliamentary seat as MP for Surat Thani but retained his party membership, promised on Friday that the impeachment petition would be handed to the Senate by Tuesday.
Democrat members have called for more signatures to demonstrate the determination of the protesters to see the MPs kicked out of office.
The opposition party on Friday also submitted a petition to the Senate to impeach Ms Yingluck, Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi and Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan. It also sought a no-confidence debate on the prime minister and Mr Charupong.
The censure debate request created a row between the Democrats and House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranond, who said hours after receiving the petition that the information was not complete. He said there was a lack of substantive grounds and indicated that the Lower House might not consider the no-confidence call.
Democrat deputy spokesman Rames Rattanachawaeng attacked the House speaker on Saturday for trying to silence the opposition and for serving "the Thaksin regime".
Opposition chief whip Jurin Laksanavisit criticised Mr Somsak and insisted that the no-confidence petition was complete, but the speaker said he needed more detail to forward it to the prime minister.
Ms Yingluck has been tight-lipped on the Democrats' latest move but Mr Charupong, who is also the Pheu Thai leader, said he was ready to be grilled.
Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard said that despite growing pressure from the party's political rivals, the prime minister had no plan to shuffle her cabinet or dissolve parliament to hold a snap election.
House dissolution would be considered only if the administration was in conflict with the legislative branch, Mr Anusorn said, adding that this was not the case yet.
As well, he said, the fact that the Democrats had submitted a censure motion showed that they too still believed in the parliamentary process, even while they were leading rallies on the streets.