THOUSANDS of demonstrators on Sunday attended a protest by Thailand's royalist 'Yellow Shirt' movement against a visit to Cambodia by their arch-foe, fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Four people, including a child, were hurt when men on a motorbike threw a firecracker into the rally in central Bangkok, an organiser said. Police said the event, attended by an estimated 20,000 people, carried on afterwards.
The rally was held to express outrage at the neighbouring country's appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser and Phnom Penh's refusal to extradite him during his four-day trip there this week, the group said.
The yellow-clad People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) also criticised billionaire Thaksin for comments that he made in a newspaper interview calling for reform of institutions around Thailand's revered monarchy. The PAD led mass protests against Thaksin before he was toppled in a 2006 coup, and blockaded Bangkok's airports in late 2008 to force his allies out of government.
'Our duty is to protect and preserve the country's honour and dignity and the monarchy. Cambodia violated the extradition treaty and allowed a convicted person to be its adviser,' senior PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told AFP. 'This action harms our country's pres tige. We will denounce both convicted Thaksin and (Cambodian Prime Minister) Hun Sen at the protest.'
Sondhi Limthongkul, the founder of the PAD, told reporters that four protesters were hurt 'when two men on a motorcycle threw a firecracker", without giving details. Police said they were investigating the incident at the Sanam Luang parade ground. -- AFP
Four people, including a child, were hurt when men on a motorbike threw a firecracker into the rally in central Bangkok, an organiser said. Police said the event, attended by an estimated 20,000 people, carried on afterwards.
The rally was held to express outrage at the neighbouring country's appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser and Phnom Penh's refusal to extradite him during his four-day trip there this week, the group said.
The yellow-clad People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) also criticised billionaire Thaksin for comments that he made in a newspaper interview calling for reform of institutions around Thailand's revered monarchy. The PAD led mass protests against Thaksin before he was toppled in a 2006 coup, and blockaded Bangkok's airports in late 2008 to force his allies out of government.
'Our duty is to protect and preserve the country's honour and dignity and the monarchy. Cambodia violated the extradition treaty and allowed a convicted person to be its adviser,' senior PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told AFP. 'This action harms our country's pres tige. We will denounce both convicted Thaksin and (Cambodian Prime Minister) Hun Sen at the protest.'
Sondhi Limthongkul, the founder of the PAD, told reporters that four protesters were hurt 'when two men on a motorcycle threw a firecracker", without giving details. Police said they were investigating the incident at the Sanam Luang parade ground. -- AFP
