The red shirts are divided over the upcoming meeting between the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, some cabinet ministers and Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda on Thursday.

Ms Yingluck will lead her deputies to call on Gen Prem and wish him a happy Thai New Year on the occasion of Songkran. They will also perform a rod nam dam hua, or blessing, ceremony for Gen Prem.

Red shirt core member Shinawat Haboonpad said yesterday some members of the movement were against the meeting and it remains to be seen if the meeting will turn into "collusion" with the ammart, or ruling elite.

Mr Shinawat, adviser to Transport Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan, said most members of the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) still supported the Pheu Thai Party-led government.

But if the government compromises on its principles and colludes with the elite, it would be unacceptable to the red shirts, Mr Shinawat said.

It must not be forgotten how much the red shirts went through during the UDD's past protests before the government rose to power, he said.

It is understandable the government is trying to foster reconciliation, but reconciliation must go beyond individuals and it must correct the legal system to restore justice, Mr Shinawat said.

He said that Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Nattawut Saikuar, who is also a UDD core leader, had led rallies against Gen Prem in the past. It would be a bitter pill for Mr Nattawut, as a cabinet minister, to swallow if he has to participate.

UDD chair Tida Tawornseth said the meeting had nothing to do with the red shirts and the UDD is only concerned about how the government will solve the country's problems.

She said she wants the government to release all red shirts detained in connection with the 2010 political violence and bring the real perpetrators to justice.

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Red shirts divided over Prem meet