BANGKOK, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) group has gathered here from early Monday morning as they planned to submit a royal pardon for ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra in the afternoon.

    By 11:40 a.m. local time, at Sanam Luang, or the royal field square in the center of capital Bangkok, at least 10,000 UDD supporters, or the red-shirted supporters of Thaksin, were gathering.

    And, at about 1:00 p.m. local time, some 2,000 red-shirted people will march to the Grand Palace to submit the appeal to a representative of the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary. The Grand Palace is nearby Sanam Luang.

    However, only up to 15 of the total 2,000 red-shirted people, will go inside the Grand Palace to submit the royal pardon's petition.

    The rally has been organized amid tight security as some 450 policemen were deployed to keep law and order around Sanam Luang, according to acting national police chief Pol Ben Wichien Pojphosri.

    Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September, 2006, in accusation of corruption, and has been kept in exile since then. Thaksin returned to Thailand in February, 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.