DHAKA: Tens of thousands of pro and anti-government demonstrators are due to mass in Bangkok on Sunday as Thailand faces its most significant political street action since bloody rallies in 2010.

Authorities expect about 50,000 anti-government protesters will be on the streets by the afternoon, with thousands more ‘Red Shirts’ set to mobilise in another area of the city in support of the crisis-hit government.

‘Red Shirts also have to show our strength to protect democracy,’ said the group’s leader Thida Thavornseth in a televised address on Saturday.

‘We will hold a peaceful rally and we do not want confrontation, so if there is violence it will not be ignited by Red Shirts,’ she added, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1436 HRS, NOV 24, 2013