'Red shirt' protesters will mount simultaneous rallies at over a dozen military bases across Thailand Thursday (February 4) in an escalation of their campaign to embarrass the government and the country's traditional elite.

The protests come after a rally outside Thailand's defence ministry on Tuesday and are part of a strategy of the red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to 'neutralise' the army.

"This is a call for democracy, and a message to the army not to interfere in politics," said Kwanchai Praipana, a regional red shirt leader in Udon Thani.

The message is for the army to remain neutral and not mount a coup, he said.

The military has denied splits within the force and rejected growing speculation of an impending military coup.

Last weekend, the UDD held consecutive rallies, gathering 100,000 in Khon Kaen and 50,000 people in Ubon Ratchathani. The rallies were largely unreported by the Bangkok-based mainstream media.

The pattern is similar to events last April. Huge rallies held in the red shirts' strongholds at that time were under-reported by the mainstream media, leaving many Thais in the capital shocked at the numbers who turned up at rallies held in Bangkok and Pattaya that month.

The protests eventually turned violent and the army had to be sent in to disperse the red shirts.

Since the start of this year, the red shirts have held small rallies almost daily. The numbers have swelled as a key court ruling on the frozen assets of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra draws near.

Some 76 billion baht worth of his assets were frozen in late 2006 by the military-appointed government in power then, on the grounds that the wealth had been acquired through corruption.

Thaksin is overseas dodging a two-year sentence for graft but calls in to red shirt gatherings every day to motivate the movement.

Security has been tightened for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as well as for the judges who will deliver the February 26 verdict on the case.

The government maintains that the UDD is trying to provoke the army into staging a coup. The right-wing People's Alliance for Democracy accuses the red shirts of wanting to undermine the monarchy, a charge the red shirts deny.