The Pheu Thai government should think again if it plans not to investigate and prosecute those who masterminded the deadly crackdown on red shirts in April and May 2010, warned Nattaputt Akahad, younger brother of nurse Kamolkaed Akahad, one of the highest-profile fatalities in last year's clashes.

The warning came as Nattaputt and some 200 other red shirts gathered at Democracy Monument yesterday [1 Oct] to express their displeasure at Friday's military reshuffle, which saw at least three senior Army officers involved in the crackdown being promoted.

While Nattaputt stopped short of accusing Pheu Thai - which he and other reds helped elect - of betrayal, his words have become increasingly terse and bitter as more and more people have begun to wonder if those responsible for the crackdown will ever be brought to justice.

"Whatever the government is thinking, it should think carefully, because people are watching," Nattaputt said at Democracy Monument. "People died so they could come to power, right? Are they going to step on the bodies without caring?"

Nattaputt said the promotion of generals involved in the crackdown, including the appointment of General Dapong Rattanasuwan, a classmate of Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, to the position of Army chief of staff, was wrong. The government should have waited until these officers were cleared by investigations in responsibility for the deaths, instead of promoting them now and disappointing the red shirts.

The 22-year-old Nattaputt, who has become a high-profile member of the red shirt movement since his elder sister was shot to death at Wat Prathum Wanaram last year, warned that promoting such officers could lead to another coup. However, Nattaputt refused to place the blame solely on the Pheu Thai-led government.

"There's still a dark force that interferes with the government's work, especially in the military reshuffle," he said, vowing to accept nothing less than the naming and prosecution of those responsible for the 92 deaths. Most of the fatalities were red shirts.

"If the Pheu Thai government won't fight, if the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship [DAAD] won't fight, I will," he said, bitterly. "Let me at least sever the legs of [the person responsible for the deaths]. Then I won't be demanding justice any more."

But the task looks like an uphill battle, at least to Nattaputt's younger brother Nattakrit, who admits that only three or four families who lost loved ones still firmly want to see the killers and the masterminds brought to justice. The rest, said Nattakrit, would settle for monetary compensation.

"There's just three or four [families] left. The rest will call it quits when they receive the money. Most just want money."