AYUTTHAYA - A red shirt leader and adviser to the transport minister has erected 10 roadside billboards protesting the anti-government Pitak Siam group.
The personal billboards include a photo of their sponsor with Thaksin Shinawatra, as well as a separate photo of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. They were erected Wednesday along main roads in the former capital, now considered a stronghold of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or red shirt movement.
The billboards ae clearly visible to motorists and other passers-by along Rojana Road and the Asian Highway in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district. They were produced and funded by Surachet Chaikosol, an Ayutthaya-based red shirt leader and adviser to Transport Minister Chatchart Sittipan.
The message on each sign reads: “Thank you Ayutthaya people for choosing Ms Yingluck Shinawatra as a prime minister. The people of Ayutthaya do not agree with the calls by Pitak Siam group for the country to be closed for five years”.
The message refers to a call by Siam Pitak leader Boonlert Kaewprasert to "freeze" Thai administration and turn the running of the country over to a council of elders.
The billboards were signed, “Surachet Chaikosol (my whole family is red)”.
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Photo by Sunthon Pongpao
The billboards feature an image of Ms Yingluck and another of Mr Surachet standing beside her brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, with Thaksin's arm draped around the red-shirt leader’s shoulder.
Pitak Siam’s second mass rally is planned for Saturday and Sunday at the Royal Plaza. It was timed to coincide with the three-day censure debate in parliament by the Democrat Party, due to begin on Sunday.
Mr Surachet said he believed most people did not agree with the Pitak Siam rally because the calls by the group were undemocratic, adding that this government was elected by a majority of Thais.
If Pitak Siam wanted to overthrow the Pheu Thai-led government, the movement should launch a campaign when it nears the end of its four-year term, not now. The group’s hidden agenda is to urge people to support the Democrats, he said. Members of the public would then judge for themselves which political party they want to vote for.
Gen Boonlert, Pitak Siam founder and leader, said last Sunday he had never called for the country to be closed to outsiders, as claimed. His proposal to freeze democratic development would stop corrupt politicians, he said.