orters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship push against a police barricade outside the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. The group yesterday demanded that the government prosecute former prime minister Surayud Chulanont for encroaching on a forest reserve at Khao Yai Thieng in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district. THITI WANNAMONTHA
24/12/2009
Bangkok Post
The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship is planning a major rally next week and is considering taking action against media outlets it believes are guilty of biased reporting, sources say.
The group said it would conduct its protest on Sunday and Monday.
UDD core member Natthawut Saikua said he could not rule out the possibility that some red shirt protesters might "drop by" at media outlets they have found to take political sides.
"They have the right [to rally]," Mr Natthawut said. "And the press should be open to the customers' freedom of expression."
He said the UDD had not yet made a resolution on the matter.
The speculation about the red shirts' possible rally at the media offices comes after former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra criticised the media's "unjust reporting" in his Talk Around The World programme shown on Thaksinlive.com.
Thaksin said red shirts who visited him in Phnom Penh planned to visit some press offices during a mass rally.
"I told them to come in peace ... to ask for justice," he said.
Another UDD core member, Jatuporn Prompan, yesterday insisted the group would hold a major rally early next year and it would be a prolonged one.
He said the red shirts were ready for a drawn-out rally to pressure the government into stepping down.
Mr Jatuporn yesterday also revealed a set of documents which he said supported his allegations last week that the government was orchestrating a plot to assassinate Thaksin.
The documents, allegedly prepared by the Foreign Ministry, detail steps to respond to Cambodia in the wake of the souring of relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.
Mr Jatuporn said the documents state: "The root cause of the Thailand-Cambodia relations problem stemmed from Thaksin who has an objective to demolish the government's existence.
"To tackle this problem, it needs to focus on the root cause ... eliminate the main threat."
Mr Jatuporn said the word "eliminate" used in the documents meant to "kill".
He also said he would today expose a scandal involving Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu, who he accused of interference in the building of a courthouse in Mae Hong Son's Pai district.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister, said the Foreign Ministry was consulting with its lawyers and prosecutors on whether to file a lawsuit against Mr Jatuporn for disclosing classified state documents.
The ministry is also looking into who leaked the documents.
There are at least 20 people to be investigated.
The UDD said its rally on Sunday would be held at Sanam Luang with member Jakrapob Penkair's phone-in "being the highlight".
Mr Jakrapob lives abroad after fleeing lese majeste charges.
Somyos Prueksakasemsuk, a leader of the Group of June 24, a red shirt faction, said the rally would centre on the government's failure to tackle problems.
Early yesterday, about 300 red shirt supporters rallied in front of the Election Commission offices to protest against the agency's delay in deciding whether to seek the dissolution of the ruling Democrat Party.
The protesters were led by Puea Thai Party member Arisman Pongruangrong, the leader of the red shirt protesters who laid seige to the Asean summit in Pattaya in April and forced the hurried evacuation of regional leaders.
The UDD protesters slammed the EC for its alleged use of double standards and for being indecisive in the case against the Democrat Party. The party is accused of unlawfully obtaining a 258 million baht donation from TPI Polene.
The EC has refused to vote on whether to seek the dissolution of the ruling party and referred the matter to EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond, in his capacity as ex-officio political party registrar.
Mr Apichart is expected to bring down a decision after the New Year.
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