Thailand is in a political turnover. The red shirts (United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or UDD) are camping out in Bangkok demanding that Parliament be dissolved. The army chief has given in to this demand, saying that is will be dissolved by the end of the year. The red shirts claim the current Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was not elected by a popular vote (he was put in power after the current government, the yellow shirts or the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) staged a coup in 2006 and instilled him as PM in 2008). The protesting reached a head this Saturday when the yellows tried to retake a certain area of Bangkok where the reds were camped out. The yellows used tear gas and either live or rubber bullets (conflicting accounts) and the reds retaliated with petrol bombs. 21 died - 17 civilans including a Japanese reporter from Reuters. Up until this point the protesting has been peaceful. In late March the red shirts gathered 10 cc of blood from each participant and threw it on the steps of the Government house as another protest. They have been camped out in Bangkok for almost a month.
Most red supporters are poor, rural farmers from the North and Northeast. They support the return to power of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra- who is seen as a sympathizer of the poor. He was deposed in a coup by the yellows in 2006 and has been exiled from Thailand since. He now calls himself a citizen of the world and he resides in London and Dubai, although he holds passports in Nicaragua and Montenegro.
The current PM, Abhisit, is English born and educated (Eton and Oxford) and was one of the youngest ever members of Parliament. He is very handsome but is criticized for his lack of charisma, often giving bland addresses to the people.
Doesn't Thailand have a king? Yes, Rama IX (Bhumipol) has not issued any comments regarding the unrest - but he usually stays out of situations like this, excepting a few very tense moments over his 60 year reign where he had to diffuse political tension.
As a reaction to the violence that took place on Saturday, yesterday a parade of coffins took place through the streets of Bangkok - mourning those killed. All of this on the eve of the biggest holiday in Thailand: Songkhran. Where for three days no one works and everyone participates in a huge water fight in the streets.
This information I've collected through various online media sources - I haven't seen anything firsthand other than an obvious display of force with more policemen patrolling the streets of Bangkok when I was there March 28-30th. I'm currently in the south and the only time this movement is mentioned is when running into travellers who have just come from Bangkok and couldn't get through the streets where the reds were protesting. You'd never even know anything was going on down here. I always assumed coups and protests were huge events where the whole country is in chaos and confusion, but you wouldn't even know a single thing is going on from the way things are down here. Thais are going to work and foreigners are planning dive trips just like any old day. I just hope they don't close the airport when I want to fly out.
