BANGKOK (Reuters) - To the rural masses at the heart of Thailand's "red shirt" protest movement, he is a mould-breaking prime minister, the first leader to pay attention to the needs of millions living beyond Bangkok's bright lights.
To the educated, urban middle-classes and royalist elite, however, Thaksin Shinawatra is a crony capitalist who plundered the economy and perverted democracy for the benefit of his family and friends while in power from 2001 until a 2006 military coup.
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