The chairwoman of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has called on members nationwide to adopt white as their symbolic colour to oppose a coup.
Demonstrators hold placards and balloons to show support for the Feb 2 election at the Thao Suranaree Monument in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Muang district on Monday. The group called on locals to back the polls, oppose a possible coup and denounce the anti-government protesters’ ‘shutdown’ of Bangkok. PRASIT TANGPRASERT
Tida Tawornseth said on Monday UDD members nationwide must come out to protest against a possible putsch.
They should wear white shirts and adopt white as their symbolic colour, light candles on streets every day and speak out to denounce the idea of a coup, she said.
Ms Tida announced the new strategy to counter attempts to instigate a coup, which the UDD believes some groups want to happen.
She made her announcement while the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) was holding rallies in Bangkok seeking the ouster of the caretaker government and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
She said under the new strategy the UDD set up four anti-coup stages in Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani and Ayutthaya. The stages are overseen by UDD co-leaders Jatuporn Prompan, Veerakarn Musikapong, Nattawut Saikuar and herself respectively, she said.
Ms Tida said many speakers will take to the stages in front of the provincial halls every evening.
She said the UDD decided to host the anti-coup activities in those provinces because the group wanted to avoid confrontation with PDRC protesters who are occupying parts of Bangkok and its surrounding provinces.
"The UDD's movement will be non-violent and non-confrontational," she said.
UDD supporters from at least 21 provinces on Monday rallied at various locations in their provinces to counter the PDRC's move to "shut down" the capital.
They staged the rallies at the behest of UDD chairwoman Tida.
The provinces consisted of 10 in the North - Uttaradit, Phrae, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Pichit, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Nan, Lampang and Phayao; seven in the Northeast - Udon Thani, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Ratchasima; and four in the Central Plains - Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya, Ang Thong and Nonthaburi.