BANGKOK: Over the last two days, there has been new energy on the Sanam Luang grounds in the shadow of the Grand Palace, in the heart of historic Bangkok.
Pickup trucks loaded with canvas and tent poles regularly roll up. Tough, wiry men unload them quickly for others to assemble. Yet another team puts finishing touches to a stage with a giant backdrop that reads, 'Protect democracy, resist the People's Alliance for Democracy'.
The men in red T-shirts and headbands are pro-government supporters, mostly from the north-east and north: the strongholds of the ruling People Power Party (PPP). 'We are bringing many, many people to match the numbers assembled by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD),' one of the men said.
What the build-up at Sanam Luang represents is making Bangkok residents increasingly edgy.
They see the potential for clashes between two large bodies of people from across what looks like a massive class divide - and the police force that is supposed to keep order is confused, outnumbered and increasingly demoralised.
The pro-government supporters do not seem as well-organised or funded as the royalist, right-wing PAD a couple of kilometres up the road.
The PAD has turned Government House into its own territory and, while advocating non-violent means, has equipped its security volunteers with wooden shields, baseball bats, iron rods and helmets.
There, PAD co-leader Chamlong Srimuang, a former general schooled in counter-insurgency, stalks through the crowd surrounded by a clutch of youthful bodyguards.
At 8am and 6pm, when the national anthem plays over the radio, the whole crowd of more than 10,000 - all but some dressed in yellow, the colour of the King - falls silent and stands still, then breaks into the rousing celebratory salute 'Chaiyo! Chaiyo! Chaiyo!'
You can see in the expensive sunglasses and manicured hands of the women, and in the well-groomed men, that at least half of the PAD supporters are relatively wealthy members of the urban middle class, unlike the farmers, small businessmen and taxi and motorcycle drivers who form the backbone of the PPP's support.
On several of the roads approaching Government House are parked the cars of PAD supporters who camp there for the day or overnight.
Ms Amornsiri Thongratta Naraksa, 37, an airline executive, is typical of most PAD supporters when she says that she is there essentially because she is fed up with government corruption.
'Yes, the way to change democratically is elections but what can you do when elections are won by buying votes?' she says.
