The pro-government counter-mobilizations began in early February
2006, in direct response to the anti-Thaksin movement. Initially, these
took the usual dirigiste form of deploying local bureaucratic channels to
bus in throngs of government officials, bemused villagers and wide-eyed
schoolchildren to Government House, to cheer on the embattled Prime
Minister by waving roses and pre-printed placards for the tv cameras.
From February 24th when, amid resounding calls for him to resign,
Thaksin dissolved parliament and called a snap election, his Cabinet
hawks—former communists, provincial bosses and ex-generals—took
charge of the movement and geared it directly towards confronting the
anti-Thaksin demonstrations in Bangkok. Throughout March 2006, a
string of mass rallies was held in Bangkok and other major provinces,
especially the North and Northeast where trt had a strong base, to provide
the now caretaker Prime Minister with a show of support and a
platform for his combative speeches. For the opening rally of the election
campaign in Bangkok on March 3rd, the 300-plus trt mps and 75
provincial governors were assigned quotas and expected to draft in,
respectively, 3,000 or 10,000 supporters. Cheap lodging around the capital
was fully booked, and hundreds of thousands of people were bussed
in to Sanam Luang to listen to Thaksin’s hour-long diatribe.