Thousands of anti-govt protesters converging in Bangkok

Thousands of anti-government protesters headed for Bangkok from rural Thailand on Saturday for what they call a "million-man march," aiming to paralyse the city and topple a government they say is a front for unelected elites.

Reports from Bangok said the red-shirted supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a coup in 2006, will rally in Bangkok from Sunday and say they will stay for at least seven days, aiming to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call an election that Thaksin's allies would be well placed to win.

"Some 600,000 to 700,000 'red shirts' are on their way to Bangkok and, together with those already in town, we will have more than a million people," Woravat Auapinyakul, a member of parliament for the pro-Thaksin Puea Thai Party, told reporters.

- Asian Tribune -