800 Phuket PAD members to join protest in Bangkok

PHUKET CITY: At least eight buses will leave from Phuket late this afternoon to transport Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD) members and supporters to join a huge anti-government protest in Bangkok tomorrow.

Phuket PAD spokesman Natjarong Ekpermsup told the Gazette this morning that the buses will leave from the Esso service station opposite Satree Phuket school at 5 pm.

At least 800 people from Phuket will travel to the capital to join the protest, he said.

Mr Natjarong said the mobilization follows the explosion of a grenade at the PAD camp outside Government House on Thursday that killed one protester and left 22 others wounded.

Another grenade hit the PAD camp at 2:10 am today, killing another protester and injuring eight more.

PAD protesters believe the government is culpable in both attacks.

Tomorrow’s protest in Bangkok will include a march to parliament in what the PAD leadership has declared its “final battle” to oust the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

Somchai is a brother-in-law of convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is on the run from jail terms in Thailand, and who has recently been banned from entering the UK.