The Bangkok Post reports:
The red-shirt movement’s drive to amend the constitution and oppose a future military coup has gained momentum with an estimated 30,000 supporters gathering at Bonanza Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday evening.
Members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and governing Pheu Thai Party loyalists from all over the country began converging on the resort in in Pak Chong district on Friday evening.
Among the UDD core leaders and Pheu Thai MPs attending the event were UDD chairwoman Tida Tawornseth, her husband Weng Tojirakarn, and Jatuporn Prompan.
Mrs Tida said the 2007 constitution had been used for five years and Thai society had seen its best and worst points. The UDD rally, she said, showed there were many people who wanted to declare that they did not accept the post-coup charter.
Meanwhile:
The yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Demcocracy (PAD) has been threatening to regroup and step up its protests if the charter amendments go ahead.
Some hard-core PAD members are even said to favour a military coup to prevent the passage of a new charter that they believe could consolidate the power of Thaksin and his allies.
Meanwhile, Tul Sitthisomwong, a core member of the Network of Citizen Volunteers to Protect the Land, or the multicoloured-shirt group, told 100 supporters at Victory Monument that his group would also oppose changing the charter.
Elsewhere, The Nation has this story about the red shirt gathering:
Red-shirt supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra began to gather at Bonanza Square in Khao Yai National Park yesterday, in the heat of the day, for a “Stop the Coup, Change the Charter” concert – their first rally in months.
And:
More than 10,000 people had arrived at the venue before dusk. Police Major General Phanu Kerdlarpphol, head of Region 3 police, said 500 officers had been deployed for the concert.
Police will monitor the concert for any violations in regard to lese majeste. Video and picture cameras would be used.
For background info on the efforts to change the Thai constitution, see the AP story I linked to in my last post.
(All emphasis mine.)
(Image: The Nation.)