Thailand's anti-government "red shirts" on Wednesday announced plans to hold mass rallies from mid-March in a bid to force the dissolution of parliament and new elections.

The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), which backs ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will rally in the capital for at least one week in what would be their first lengthy demonstration since violent protests last April.
 

"We will gather for a mass protest on 12 March," Veera Musikapong, one of the UDD's leaders, told reporters.
 

At the same news conference, another UDD leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said protesters would gather in the provinces and around Bangkok on that date.
 

"The massing and mobilising will be on the 12th, to merge in Bangkok on the 14th," Jatuporn said, without giving details about the location of the rally in the capital.
 

The group has vowed to bring a million, mostly rural Thais to the capital to topple the government within seven days, although analysts have doubts both about the likely numbers and the timeframe.

Government illegitimate
The UDD says Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's six-party coalition government is illegitimate because it was not elected by the people but put together by the army in a "silent coup" after a pro-Thaksin ruling party was dissolved.
 

Security forces are braced for a big turnout and a possible violent response to a court verdict due on Friday on whether to seize $2.3 billion in assets belonging to the family of Thaksin, whose popularity among the rural masses gave him an unprecedented two terms in office before his removal in a 2006 coup.
 

UDD protests have added to the pressure on a government coalition already in disarray, while political uncertainty has rattled investors and weighed on the stock market.
 

Source: Reuters