BANGKOK — Three years after bloody street protests left more than 90 dead and thousands injured, Thailand's simmering political tensions are once again threatening to boil over.
Weeks of protests against a deeply unpopular amnesty bill have escalated into an attempt by opposition leaders to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai Party.
The opposition group, led by former members of the Democrat Party, is calling for a rally of 1 million supporters in Bangkok on Sunday to protest a government they claim is deeply corrupt and still under the control of Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed former prime minister.
There is a recent history in Thailand of both methods of removing the government. In 2006, a military coup ousted Thaksin, then the prime minister. And in 2008, Thailand's Constitutional Court dissolved the People's Power Party (PPP), composed primarily of Thaksin allies, over charges of electoral fraud.
Adding to the atmosphere of political showdown in Bangkok has been the arrival of members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) — known as the red shirts — a political pressure group tightly allied with Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party.