BANGKOK – Thailand announced plans Friday to mobilise a 18,000-strong security force at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders this month to prevent anti-government protests.

The summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six dialogue partners – China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand – takes place in the coastal resort of Hua Hin on October 23-25.

Supporters of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, known as the “Red Shirts”, stormed the last summit in the beach town of Pattaya in April, forcing some regional leaders to flee the venue in helicopters.

The meeting had been postponed from December and moved out of its original location in Bangkok after rival demonstrators from the anti-Thaksin “Yellow Shirt” movement blockaded the capital’s airports.

Read more: ASIAONE

By ASIAONE