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Thailand: Demonstrators defy generals to stage protest in Bangkok

HUNDREDS of pro-democracy activists took the rare step on Saturday evening of defying Thailand’s junta to stage a protest in the capital Bangkok.

The protesters, from the New Democracy Movement, marked the anniversary of the 2006 coup that unseated then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on allegations of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for the king.

The coup plunged Thailand into a cycle of often violent street protests as Mr Shinawatra’s supporters and opponents struggled for power.

The activists marched peacefully to the city’s Democracy Monument, a symbolic location that has become a rallying point for protests in recent years.

They carried anti-junta banners and shouted pro-democracy slogans as a ring of police kept watch but did not break up the rally. The demonstration started with a forum at Thammasat University that was allowed by authorities, but they denied a request for a march outside the campus.

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