The dismissal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier this month in a controversial court ruling has stoked tensions in the kingdom, which has endured years of political turmoil. 'Red Shirt' supporters of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed as premier in a 2006 coup, have warned of the threat of civil war if power is handed to an unelected leader, as opposition protesters demand. Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, said on Twitter that the imposition of martial law was expected but must not 'destroy' democracy. The backdrop is a nearly decade-long struggle pitting a royalist establishment - backed by parts of the military, judiciary and Bangkok-based elite - against Thaksin's billionaire family, which has traditionally enjoyed strong support among poor and rural voters in the north.