Aug 25, 2009, 8:14 GMT
Bangkok - The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved the use of the country's draconian security act in Bangkok to keep the lid on an anti-government protest planned for Sunday.
The enforcement of the strict law Saturday through Monday would allow soldiers and police impunity in making arrests or crack down on any turmoil caused by the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) movement.
'According to intelligence reports I've received there is a possibility that a third hand will use the protest to create turmoil,' Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said, in justifying the need for the tough security measure.
The Internal Security Act allows the army to play a lead role in crushing civil unrest, which is usually the job of the police.
Abhisit, 45, last week failed to push through his nomination of a new police chief, weakening his control over the police force which is known to harbour many officers still loyal to Thaksin, Thailand's prime minister between 2001-06.
Thaksin, a billionaire businessman-turned-politician, was toppled by a military coup in September 2006.
He has lived in self-imposed exile for much of the past three years, returning only shortly in 2008 for a few months before jumping bail in August that year to avoid several pending corruption trials against him.
In October 2008, the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders found Thaksin guilty of abuse of power by allowing his wife to successfully bid for a plot of prime land in Bangkok at a government auction in 2003.
The court sentenced him in absentia to two years in jail.
Although living in exile, Thaksin has used his mass following to weaken the Abhisit-led government.
In April, red-shirted UDD members stormed a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their Asian partners in Pattaya, forcing Abhisit to cancel the event.
On August 17, thousands of his followers lodged a petition allegedly signed by more than 5 million Thais asking King Bhumibol Adulyadej to grant Thaksin an amnesty.
The UDD plans to gather at the Royal Grounds in Bangkok on Sunday and march on Government House to demand the resignation of the current government.
About a year ago, the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seized Government House, leaving the previous administration without their offices until their dissolution on December 3.
The UDD is pushing for a new general election that would be likely to bring back a pro-Thaksin government, given his ongoing popularity in the countryside.
Thaksin came to power by introducing populist policies to the traditional system of paying for votes and secured himself huge backing from Thailand's rural and urban poor during his two-term premiership.
He used his immense popularity to monopolize politics, undermining many of the independent institutions put in place by a liberal 1997 constitution to maintain a balance of power, in order to push through economic policies that benefited his family and cronies.
His decision in January 2006 to sell off his family's shares in the Thaksin-founded Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings for 2 billion dollars, tax-free, turned the Bangkok middle class and political elite against him, eventually leading to his overthrow by a military coup in September of that year.
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