Mass rallies continue for second day in Thailand

A large number of people turned up for the anti-government rally at Democracy Monument for Monday’s planned marches while pro-government supporters hold their own mass rally at Rajamangala stadium, Thailand land Bangkok Post reports. Protesters are on the streets of Bangkok for a second day, amid tensions between Thailand’s rival political camps. After a cabinet meeting this afternoon, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she has no intention of resigning or dissolving parliament. Meanwhile, Suthep Thuagsuban has reached the Budget Bureau where he demanded the whole cabinet resign and asked for the support of civil servants inside. Outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters it is a waiting game. Leaders are refusing to leave until city police chief Lt.Gen Kamronwit meets with them. Thai PBS reports, however, he is not in the building. At Army headquarters headquarters, led by Ekkanat Prompan is also waiting for a response from Gen Prayuth. It’s been silence so far. The protests have been triggered by a controversial government-backed political amnesty bill, a BBC report said today. The legislation, which the opposition say would have allowed ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra – the current prime minister’s brother – to return to Thailand without serving a jail sentence for corruption, failed to pass in the Senate earlier this month. But the proposed legislation led to an fresh outbreak of street protests, reigniting simmering political divisions and raising the spectre of renewed political turmoil in the South East Asian nation.